Twinned up, clued out
by floro13
Summary: COMPLETE! Fred and Geroge are all set up for a summer of testing out their new products on their family but someone is about to disrupt their summer, and maybe their own relationship as well... oooh err...!
1. Default Chapter

Hey guys, this is my first fic so be nice! If it's really bad though, constructive criticism would be much appreciated! Lol r xxx  
  
Fred and George had been always inseparable. Always. And everyone had known it. As identical twins they had always been best mates and no-one had ever questioned that. They were what they were, implicitly. And being identical they possessed equally mischievous natures, something that made them legend at Hogwarts. But no-one had ever questioned that. They were what they were, implicitly. But life always throws in problems. To some people, they are easily resolved. But when the problem hits twins, moreover, twins of Fred and George's nature, they're not that easily resolved. At all. Remember that muggle song, 'sisters'? There's a line in it that fits this problem perfectly, 'lord help the mister, who comes between me and my sister, and lord help the sister who comes between my man and I'. Except reversing genders, obviously! This is the tale of a summer of hardships (and pranks obviously, I mean Fred and George wouldn't be Fred and George without pranks!).  
  
It was a miserable day in Ottery St Catchpole. It may have been summer but it was also England. The rain poured down outside plunging everyone in the Weasley household into a dull and monotonous mood. Ron and Harry had wanted to go outside and play quidditch on the hill behind the house. Mrs Weasley had wanted to send everyone into the garden to de-gnome the garden (but she wasn't cruel and she didn't want to spend extra money on replenishing her stocks of Pepper-up potion). Mr Weasley was at work so it didn't particularly affect him, Percy was living in London, stuck up prick that he was. He was still on very rigid terms with his family. His pride had not succumbed to shelving when he realised he had been wrong about the whole 'Voldemort has returned' issue. Ginny had wanted to go into town to buy herself a new set of summer robes as the twins had now been giving her her weekly pocket money as they were the only ones who could afford it.  
Fred and George did not, however, let the bad weather dampen their spirits. They planned to use the weather to their advantage. If everyone was inside, they were free subjects for trials. They had a couple of products still on the production line that needed testing for things like durability, safety, toxicity, etc. This particular morning they were testing-  
'AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGH!! FRED! GEORGE! GET DOWN HERE IMMEDIATELY'  
The twins grinned from the dark cupboard in which they were seeking refuge. Judging by the fact that their mother was still screaming at the top of her voice, their new range of fireworks weren't harmful. Fantastic! They had been working on these ones for ages. They were designed to pass straight through anything human or similar (eg. Crups) but to eliminate any pests the house/area may be harbouring. They looked good and they were handy. What more could you wa-  
'Get out here NOW!'  
They grimaced. Something must have gone wrong. Something usually did. Slowly, they opened the door to the cupboard and-  
'Ah', said Fred.  
'Sorry mum', George tried. Mrs Weasley wasn't having any of it. She didn't mind the occasional explosion from their room but practical testing was no place for the kitchen. Let alone a kitchen that was...  
'It's pink', Fred commented.  
'I like it', George offered. They could see Mrs Weasley top lip begin to curl.  
'Oh, you do, do you?' The twins remained irresolute. To nod would probably prompt a veritable explosion from their mother. To shake their heads would probably bring about the same response.  
'Fix it', Mrs Weasley snarled. The twins often marvelled at their mother. How could one person manage to be so lovely one minute and then turn to a near homicidal maniac the next? They figured they were usually safe if Harry was in the room, he always managed to make the former side of their mother emerge but at present he was in Ginny's room... 'talking' to her. They didn't really mind. He was a decent guy and their little sister deserved him. They were both besotted with one another and this also made Mrs Weasley happy. However, the chances of them emerging to help them out were slim to none.  
'No problem mum', said George, and with a flick of his wand, the cabinets, the cooker and their mother's hair and robes returned to their normal colour.  
'We'll just be...' tried Fred as the twins moved towards the staircase, but to no avail.  
'Oh no you don't. You stay right there. We need to have a talk', a line used so many times on the twins that it hardly had the effect it used to. Now, it just brought a sigh or a groan or a hurried dash up to their room. Just as they were wondering how large the chances of survival would be if they tried the latter there was a soft knock on the kitchen door and a girl stepped through on the stone floor, dripping water from her sodden robes and hair.  
'Hermione, darling! How lovely to see you!', Mrs Weasley dashed over to the door, her seeming rage disappearing as Ron and Harry's best friend whipped out her wand to dry herself and at the same time being caught in a bone crushing hug. Her hair covered her face as the twins heard a muffled,  
'Hi Mrs Weasley'.  
'Hermione, sweetie! How've you been? We've missed you so so so much!', George shrieked in an uncanny imitation of his mother and running over to Hermione, picking her off the floor in another bone crushing hug as Mrs Weasley let her go.  
'Darling honey pie!', Fred followed his twin and the three of them fell over in a tangled and wet mess.  
'Aaaaah! Fred, George! Geroff!'. Hermione sought to untangle herself from the mass of limbs spread out on the floor. As she stood up, struggling to regain her composure, she picked up her wand, muttered a spell and dried off instantly.  
'Ah', she sighed. 'That's better'. She swept her hair off her face and looked up, just as the twins found their feet. 'Hi', she said. But there was no answer. The twins, the usually bouncy, chatty and confident stared into the face of their brother's best friend, temporarily dumbfounded. How could this be Hermione?  
'Umm...'  
'Err...'  
'Come on sweetie. Let's get your bag upstairs and then we'll go and find those friends of yours. I declare, I hardly see them anymore, they've become quite recluse. How was your journey? This weather's perfectly horrible isn't it? Now you must be starving. As soon as we've got you upstairs we'll make some supper. What would you like? We have...'  
The twins watched Mrs Weasley drag Hermione upstairs, chatting away endlessly.  
'Ah', said Fred.  
'Right', said George.  
It was strange; they'd never really been at a loss for words before. And neither had they been awkward in one another's presence. This was going to be a little interesting... 


	2. The pillowfight

Wow!! 4 reviews already! I love you guys so much!! Okay, that's exactly what I needed to gain some more inspiration and do my next chapter- thanks! Although I'm still not really sure where this is going at the moment... I'm just writing as the words come!  
  
Grizabella()- Hope this is soon enough for you! You were my first reviewer so thank you :D  
  
Amour-lily- thankyou... I'm going to read your story right now, back in a minute...haha! Very good so far! Maybe a little quick but I don't mind stories that keep moving. I know mine are really slow so I apologise for that!  
  
Doodleflip- awww! Quality of writing?! Wow... I didn't think it was that good... but huge thanks anyway!  
  
HermyGWeasley- was it that obvious?! Ah well... never mind! Thankyou anyway!  
  
Oh yeah, and I forgot to put in my disclaimer so here it is...: Disclaimer- I own nothing, zilch, zipall, nada, rien, or anything other language you want to put it in. I owe my writing entirely to the prowess and genius that is Mrs J. K. Rowling.  
  
OK then, let's get going...  
  
Harry and Ginny were lying quietly on Ginny's bed, (a/n would like to clarify that nothing has 'happened' between these two. I can't really write about that. If you would like it to have happened, please let your imagination fill in at this point! Sorry, I know how annoying these out of context things can be, I won't do any more) enjoying cuddles and kisses, talking quietly about how they were going to fix Ron and Hermione up this summer. It had really been too long, it was so obvious how much they liked each other and it was painful to see them deny those feelings every day they were in one another's presence. Harry and Ginny had come to the conclusion that while each was well aware of the affections they held for the other, these feelings blinded them to the others affections. As said before, it was painful to watch them together now. Before, it was just amusing. They used to have their own little quibbles and tiffs, arguing as a means of disguising their true feelings.  
'Raging hormones!' Harry laughed, wrapping his arms a little more tightly round Ginny, glad that their awkward barrier had been breached in the previous Christmas holidays.  
'You can say that again', laughed Ginny nuzzling into Harry's chest. 'Please tell me we weren't that bad!'  
'I hope not!' Harry grimaced. He had always known that Ginny had fancied him, it had been obvious from his day at King's Cross by the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. But when he had realised that he returned her feelings, close to the end of the summer holidays leading up to his 6th year, he had started to make a fool of himself. Or at least, he thought he had. There had been the time he was trying to de-gnome the garden with Ron and Ginny had turned up in a bikini ready to soak up the last of the summer sun... that had not been a pretty sight!  
There was a pause.  
'Well... you may have been', Harry muttered in her ear, grinning.  
'Oy! No fair!' Ginny yelled at him grabbing a pillow and readying herself for a fight.  
'Ah Gin, don't make me hurt you', said Harry as he picked up his own pillow and turning to face her.  
'Hurt me? I'll let you know Mr Potter', Ginny shouted, thwacking Harry hard on the arm with her pillow, 'that I am THE best chaser Gryffindor has had since Angelina Johnson and as a result, I'm not-', another hit, this time on the head causing Harry to fall off the bed, '- oops, sorry Harry, you okay?' and seeing he was, she continued. 'I am not a skinny dweeb such as yourself!'  
'Skinny?! I resent that!' said Harry, pouncing on her and pinning her tot eh bed. 'I'll have you know that I've been working out a lot this holiday! Can't you tell?' he lifted up his t-shirt to show a muscular chest and Ginny grinned, seizing the opportunity and catching him off guard to reverse their positions and pinning him to the bed instead.  
'You're so vain!' panted Ginny, grinning as her hands found his. 'Anyway, I know how bad I was. You obviously don't know what I know...', she said conspiratorially as she pecked him lightly on the lips.  
'Oh, and what would that be?' asked Harry, trying and failing to deepen the kiss but, being pinned down, unable to move his head more than half an inch.  
'That I saw the whole episode with the gnomes last summer', Ginny grinned and kissed him more deeply, grinning against his lips.  
'You WHAT?!?!' yelled Harry. And with a huge amount of strength, broke free from Ginny's grip, grabbed his discarded pillow and began to attack her ferociously again.  
'Hahahahahahaha! Aaah! Meany!' and the two of them became so entangled in the pillows, sheets and erupting feathers that neither noticed the twins creep in, shooting equally disgusted glares at the scene before their eyes.  
'OY!' they both yelled in unison and Harry and Ginny stopped their battle to disentangle themselves and look enquiringly at the twins for disrupting their fun.  
'Well, now you two little lovebirds have stopped... doing whatever it was you were doing in there', said Fred with a slight grimace...  
'You can listen to us because we have two pieces of news', said George, still looking slightly revolted at the idea of his sister and... well, yeah.  
'What is it guys?' Harry asked. 'Oh God, what have you done this time?'  
'Oh yeah, make that three pieces of news', said George, remembering the fireworks. 'Number one'-  
'Don't go downstairs unless it's an absolute emergency, you like your eardrums intact and your hair the colour it is', said Fred. 'We just tried out our new Handy Hellflames and... well...'  
'Mum wasn't too pleased', finished George. 'And we need to try them again coz we think we used a little too much powder in the first mix'.  
'Whatever', said Ginny, who really couldn't care less what the twins did, as long as it wasn't in her room. A couple of weeks previously they had tried a new 'hair product' on her except that one- she didn't know about it until after and two- much as she always complained about having curly red hair, she preferred it to 'glow in the dark'. The cat had nearly had a heart attack and Mr Weasley had found out who kept on taking midnight swigs from his bottle of fire whisky. Ginny was in no hurry to forgive the twins, especially since it had taken 5 days for the full effects to wear off. 'What was number two?'  
'Oh yeah, Hermione's just arrived', said Fred, his voice dropping a tone or two below his normal range and his ears turning pink at the edges.  
'Fantastic!' Ginny cried. 'Another girl around the place! I'm all boyed out... oh, not you Harry' she added quickly, noticing Harry's stricken look. 'Them', she indicted at the twins and Harry nodded understandingly.  
'Aren't you going to go and see her too mate?' asked George.  
'In a minute. I'll let her catch her breath and say hi to Ginny and Ron first. Should be good to see her again', he added. 'I've actually missed the constant nagging you know... in a weird kinda way'.  
'You might', muttered Fred. The constant berating Hermione gave him and George while they were still at Hogwarts had always remained one of the few things he had never really missed about the school. And they had even missed Filch... in a weird kinda way.  
'Oh, yeah, what was the third thing?' Harry asked, confused when neither of the twins seemed to want to answer him.  
'It's um...'  
'Well,'  
'It's not that...'  
'It's just'  
'You'll see', they chorused in unison, and exited. This left a very confused but intrigued Harry to follow them out of the door to find Ron and then to find out just what was up with Hermione.  
  
Please review! R xxx 


	3. Awkwardness and tears

OK, first of all, I need to apologise for my darling little brother and his best friend. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't nice and they posted this story (under MY account! How do they even know my password?) and consequently, I received some rather offended reviews. If any of those were you or if you read the story and hated it/were offended by it, I'm very sorry. I've changed my password too so it (hopefully) won't happen again. I also need to apologise for the amount of time it's taken to come up with this third chapter. I've been doing my work experience all week (snore) and then waitressing the minute I get home (double snore) so I've been exhausted and had no spare time. So here you go and thank you to all my lovely reviewers, you make it all worthwhile!  
  
Ron was sitting on his orange bedspread in a foul mood. It was raining so he couldn't go and play quidditch, and as a result, Harry had retreated to Ginny's room- yuk. What was there to do? He rolled over, staring unseeingly at Gregory Picknell, the best chaser of the Chudley Cannons, who was waving and grinning like a loon out of one of Ron's many posters. This got Ron thinking- what was he going to do after he left school? Admittedly, he'd got some pretty good grades in his OWLs, nowhere near as good as Hermione's obviously, but enough to get him into the ministry if he wanted. What did he want though? Well, actually, the only thing he'd ever wanted was to be a professional quidditch player, but what with Charlie being as good as any of the international beaters and Harry stealing the show at every match, he hadn't felt very inspired to do anything about it, much less look for possible openings and opportunities. He'd be laughed at. Well, not openly... but it would probably be exactly the same sort of thing as happened in fifth year, he'd just make a fool of himself in front of better opposition. Like Harry. Ron made a disgusted sound at himself.  
'Don't be jealous, it's stupid to be jealous', he repeated this to himself. And when it did no good, he decided he needed to get out, raining or not. He picked his way across the mess that was his bedroom floor, prised the door open and shoved Crookshanks out of his way to get onto the landing. Crookshanks? But that meant...  
'Hermione?!' Ron yelled down the stairs.  
'She's down here Ron!' came Ginny's voice. 'Ususal room' Ron willed his heart to maintain a calm beat as he slid down the banisters. She was here. And about time too, someone to take his mind off the fact that his best mate and his sister were... yeah.  
''RON!' someone threw themselves on to him, in a hug so tight it rivalled Mrs Weasley's! But from his six foot one height, Ron could see that this someone had... differences from how he remembered leaving Hermione at the barrier a month and a half ago.  
'Hey 'mione! How've you been?'  
'Oh, busy, you know', said Hermione, releasing him and stading back to look at him, beaming.  
And Ron stared. And stared. And stared a little more.  
'Her...mione?'  
'Yes? Oh, let's get off the landing. Come talk to me while I unpack', and she ran back into the lilac room behind her. Ron followed, instinctively, in a kind of stupor, leaving the door open a crack.  
'Hermione?' he managed to spurt out, 'I... what... I mean... what happened?' he managed to get out, and at Hermione's slightly put out look he added hastily,  
'Not that it's anything bad or anything. It's just... you look a bit... err... different', he finished, lamely.  
'Oh you know, a bit of exercise, and the weather in Spain was really nice, so I managed to get a bit of a tan', she muttered going slightly pink, and busying herself with her suitcase.  
'A bit of a tan?' Ron muttered incredulously.  
So Hermione looked a little different. She was still the same Hermione right? Well, from the slightly geeky but potentially good-looking girl Hermione had left 6th year as, she had blossomed into a stunning young woman... and in a pretty short time as well! She now stood at a perfect five foot eight, her hair had been straightened slightly so it didn't look un- natural but fell to her mid back in glossy chestnut waves. Her legs, long and tanned from a holiday in Alicante, were displayed by a denim skirt which rose to just above the knee. Her eyelashes had been curled and now framed her chocolatey eyes perfectly and she had the tiniest hint of blusher on her cheeks, emphasising her perfectly formed cheekbones.  
'You look fantastic', Ron spurted out, immediately looking horrified with himself and clamping a hand over his mouth. He had always promised himself not to let his feelings for Hermione escape, he always assumed she was too good for him and it would ruin a perfectly good friendship if he did. However, this made him frustrated, when frustrated he got angry really quickly, when he was angry he argued with people, and it was usually Hermione he argued with. This didn't improve his mood much. But at least it meant she couldn't know that he liked her. But then, why had she got herself like this? It must be for someone else, he reckoned. He chanced this-  
'So, what made you change? Who's the guy?' Yeah, that sounded alright. Then again... maybe it didn't...  
'What do you mean? What? You think I did this because of some guy, is that what you think?' Hermione's voice started to rise in volume. 'Well, you know what Ron? Maybe I did it for me, to make me feel better. Think about that!' And she turned her back to him, busying herself with the first thing she picked out of her bag. Unfortunately, this happened to be her tampons and she shrieked, burst into tears and fell onto her bed.  
'Hey, 'mione, I didn't mean it like that. It was just... a bit of a shock, that's all. I dunno...' Ron's voice tailed off and he sat down next to Hermione and put his arm round her. In truth, he didn't believe her. And this just made him feel even more jealous than before. Geez, first Harry, then Hermione, who'd be next? Maybe he should tell Hermione how he felt about her. Afetr all, there'd been that time in 4th year... with Krum. That had hurt. That had hurt him a lot. That was the only time he could remember crying, ever. God he loved her so much!  
'I missed you, you know?' came Hermione's voice, muffled through Ron's t-shirt. 'All of you'. Her sniffled petered out and she raised a tear stained face to look at Ron's. 'I'm sorry', she said, wiping the tears from her cheeks, 'I've just had a bit of a rough time at home. Mum and... Mum and Dad are...' she broke into fresh sobs again.  
'Shhh, it's okay', said Ron, wrapping his arms more tightly around her, wanting to take away all her pain.  
'Ron, they're getting a divorce', she sniffed. Ok, so that would explain it. Not having taken the muggle studies OWL, Ron had wanted to try it out, so he took it up for a year last year. He hated it, but he still managed to learn the difference between a mobile phone and a mobile home, no matter how long it had taken to explain to him that people could talk into bits of plastic and be heard through another bit of plastic on the other side of the world.  
'Oh 'mione, I'm sorry', and he meant it. They broke apart and she went very quiet, quiet enough to hear muffled footsteps walking down the corridor and then to hear the door creak further open. A head poked round the door, a messy-haired one.  
'MIONE!' Harry shouted as he bounded over to give her a hug. 'I... what's wrong?' he asked as her saw her blotchy face. He turned to Ron, 'Great Ron, just great. She hasn't even been here five minutes! I'm kidding!' he added as he watched Ron's face turn to thunder.  
'I'm okay Harry, really', Hermione said, her voice cracking slightly.  
'Oh come on. You're obviously not'  
'Um, mate, her... her parents are... going through a rough patch', Ron said gently, Hermione remaining as rigid as a board.  
'Oh. Right. Oh 'mione, I'm so sorry'  
'It's fine, really', and the room went very quiet as they all sat there, all at a complete loss at what to say.  
  
Fred and George watched Ron follow Hermione into her room. A couple of months ago, and they'd have had no problem with this at all. But what with... the current situation. Mercifully, Ron had left the door open, just a crack, but enough to listen in at. They crept along the landing, carefully treading where they knew there was no creak (this was a little difficult as most of their house was just one big creak. And Fred and George weren't exactly the most graceful of people... let's just say that, had anyone been watching their progress along the landing, they'd have been admitted to St Mungo's 2 minutes later with suspected laughing curse upon them). Listening at the door, they heard their little brother, bungling as usual, trying not to make it really obvious that he fancied the pants off this girl and failing spectacularly.  
'Hermione? I... what... I mean... what happened?'  
Ouch. Ok, they really needed to give Ron a few lessons in 'how-not-to- make-a-fool-of-yourself-in-front-of-a-spectacularly-hot-girl-by- acciedentally-insulting-her'.  
'What happened indeed', Fred muttered. 'Ouch, what was that for?!' as George elbowed his in the ribs.  
'Keep it down, or we'll get found. And I want to hear him mess up in front of her for te umpteenth time. It's so much fun, and they make such good party jokes! Remember his 14th failed save in his second ever match?' and he made wild doggy paddles movements in mid-air. This time, it was his turn to get an elbow in the ribs.  
'Ow! Okay now, shhh...'  
'You look fantastic'  
'I'll bloody say so', both twins muttered together, looking at each other quickly, turning equally fantastic shades of magenta and looking quickly away again, neither wanting to elaborate on that point.  
They stood there for another few minutes, in highly uncomfortable positions leaning in towards the door but having to stay far enough away so they weren't noticed. And then...  
'Divorce?' they whispered.  
'What the hell is divorce?' Fred whispered.  
'Dunno. Doesn't sound great though', George muttered back (neither had done muggle studies OWL or NEWT).  
And then they heard footsteps coming up the stairs.  
'Harry', George whispered, and they quickly crept away, before they were caught eavesdropping. Once they were back in their room, they sat on their beds, each wondering different things but on the same subject. How were they going to survive the summer with a babe and their little brother in the same house? Much less, a girl every one of them was going to try and get... 


	4. The step

Ok, I know I haven't been focussing on the twins much lately, but I will, I promise! I just wrote out my plan for the story so I have it all sorted out! Thanks for all the reviews guys! Really appreciated! R xxx  
  
Ron and Harry sat on Hermione's bed still at a complete loss at what to say. What could you say except that you were sorry? And it's not as if either of them had had any experience in that field. Ron's parents had enjoyed a happy and fulfilling marriage with (perhaps too many) children. Harry's had been happy for the short two years they had been married and Vernon and Petunia Dursley had seemed to enjoy their incredibly normal marriage and had been blessed (or cursed, depending on how you saw the situation) with Dudley.  
'Oh, this is so silly!' said Hermione. 'Hang on, let me just clear myself up', and she walked into the bathroom connected to her room leaving Harry and Ron together.  
'Wow', said Ron. 'That was a little awkward!' and Harry nodded fervently.  
'Yup. I mean, what could we have said?' Harry mused.  
'Not much I s'pose', said Ron absently. 'But seriously mate, did you see her? I mean, bit of a change huh?'  
'Well, yeah. I mean, her parents are getting a divorce. It's enough to make anyone a little more miserable than they usually are'.  
'No, not that', said Ron eagerly. 'Her. As in, what she looks like'.  
'Looks like? She looked normal to me mate'.  
'Harry, I know your blind, but you do have your glasses on. Weren't you looking?!' asked Ron incredulously.  
'Course I was! Maybe it was just coz she was crying... Oh was THAT what Fred and George were on about?'  
'The twins? Since when have they been interested in girls?'  
'Is it possible Hermione's the exception?'  
'Oh crap. If they mess up my chances of getting her this-', and once again, he brought up his hand to his mouth, looking as though if he could kill himself, he would.  
'Mate, it's okay. I know you like her. Couldn't be more bloody obvious actually but...Yeah, don't worry about it. I think she likes you too, you know?'  
Ron gave him a sceptical look. 'Yeah well. Have a good look when she gets out. I swear, it'll be enough to make you drop Gin anyway,'  
'Ron! Don't say that! I'd never hurt Gin, I love her mate. I know it's a bit difficult fro a brother to understand... but I do'.  
'Ok, sorry. Well, I'm glad it's you she's chosen. I couldn't have stood it if it was that Michael Corner. He had a-'  
'A really shifty look about him. Yeah Ron, we've heard it all before. And don't worry, I'll kill Corner if he ever lays a finger on Gin, I promise'.  
'Thanks mate.'  
'WOULD YOU ALL GET DOWN HERE NOW OR YOU'LL GO HUNGRY FOR A WEEK!!' came Mrs Weasley's magically magnified voice up the stairs.  
'I guess that's the call for dinner then,' said Ron, lifting himself off the bed. 'Hungry for a week, yeah right! I swear, if you look like you've lost half and ounce she lays out a banquet for fear you're going anorexic!'  
'Okay, I'll be down in a minute. I want to see this new Hermione!' said Harry and Ron nodded, bounding out of the door and sliding down the banisters which was followed by an impromptu-  
'RONALD WEASLEY! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THAT! IF YOU BREAK YOUR NECK I WILL HAVE ABSOLUTELY-'  
'No sympathy', muttered the twins who were walking past Hermione's door at that moment. They looked in at Harry, Fred grinned, George winked and they proceeded to slide down the banisters, just for the effect. Harry laughed to himself as fresh shouting emerged from below.  
'Supper time huh?' said Hermione, making Harry jump as he had not seen her come out of the bathroom, and then jump as he did a double take on her. He stood up, faced her and breathed,  
'Wow'. Hermione giggled.  
'Yeah, that's what Ron said. Except you did it a little more articulately', she said, making them both laugh. 'How are you and Ginny then?' she asked.  
'Really good, thanks', Harry grinned sheepishly.  
'It'll last Harry. It will, I promise.' and he gave her a big hug.  
'It's good to see you again 'mione', he whispered into her ear and it was her turn to grin.  
'You too.' And they walked out the door, Harry pausing to wonder whether it would be worth it to risk sliding down the banisters. He decided not.  
'Wise move', grinned Hermione watching him. 'I heard Mrs Weasley having a go at Ron. He really asks for it!'  
'Yeah, but the twins ask for it more', Harry replied.  
'True, true', and her leg sank right through one of the steps in the staircase and she gave a yelp, losing her balance and falling over, her leg still trapped in what appeared to be a replica of the trick step that Neville always forgot to jump at Hogwarts.  
'Ow!' cried Hermione, tears welling up in her eyes. The next few seconds were pandemonium as the twins jumped up to try and prevent their mother from seeing what had happened, Ron got up to help Hermione but tripped over Crookshanks who had joined the fray. Mrs Weasley had started shouting to try and find out what had happened that had caused Hermione to scream and at that moment, Mr Weasley walked in through the door who was immediately attacked by the wooden spoon that had been mixing pancake batter a few minutes before.  
Amongst the fray, George managed to get to Hermione first, Harry having fallen down the last few stairs when Hermione collided into him. He muttered a spell and the step disappeared long enough for him to pull Hermione out of its hold and to catch her as she fell over again and into his arms.  
'Hey', he said quietly and looking into her eyes. 'You okay?' Hermione nodded, stood up and collapsed again managing to mutter,  
'I think my ankle's broken', before passing out. George looked incredibly uncomfortable holding her in his arms while she was so vulnerable (and beautiful, but um, cough, that had nothing to do with his discomfort!). He carried her over to the sofa in front of the fire, oblivious to everyone else who was either nursing a sprained wrist, being attacked by a large ginger cat, being battered by a spoon, shouting at their son or being shouted at by their mother.  
'Malleolus immendia', said George pulling out his wand and pointing it at Hermione's ankle. He moved a strand of chestnut hair out of her face and put a hand on her cheek, stroking it softly in the way his mother used to do when he was ill. The whole situation made him feel strangely calm and happy, in an inexplicable way.  
Hermione stirred, bringing her own hand up to touch his. She opened her eyes, smiled and George smiled back.  
'How you feeling?'  
'Not too bad actually. Did you fix my ankle?' George nodded. 'It's about the only thing I can do, you know, with all our experiments I had to get quite good at it!' Hermione grinned, despite herself.  
'Well, thanks.' She glanced over to the fray still going on on the other side of the room. 'Guess I wasn't out for long then?'  
'Bout two minutes', George replied. 'And it's really the least I could do.'  
'Why?' asked Hermione suspiciously.  
'Well, actually, me and Fred set up that step,' said George going pink. 'It was supposed to be for Ron, but he went down the banisters so...'  
'Should have guessed really,' said Hermione, and to George's relief, she was still smiling. God, she looked beautiful when she smiled. 'It's okay, just as long as it wasn't meant to hurt me and I'm not dead, I don't mind.'  
'You... you don't?' George asked incredulously. The Hermione he used to know would have held it against them for years.  
'No, not really. I've changed you know,' she said.  
'Yeah, I noticed,' said George going a delicate shade of pink. 'In a good way, I mean,' he said mentally kicking himself. That was what Ron had said about half an hour ago, was he reduced to that level? He was twenty years old for chrissakes, out of the sea of raging hormones and schoolboy crushes. How was it possible this girl could have reduced him to this? Almost as bad as Ron... he shuddered. However much he liked this new Hermione, he would not go a stupid as that.  
'Come on,' he said reluctantly, wanting to stay like this, talking to her, forever. 'Better go rejoin the tussle.'  
'Yeah, might as well,' said Hermione and taking George's proffered hand, she was lifted from that couch with ease into his arms. They stood awkwardly for a few seconds, secretly neither wanting to move from the position they were currently in. Hermione pressed up against George's chest, one hand in his, his other on the small of her back. Reluctantly, the went back to sort everyone out, George trying to explain the situation to his mother who was currently holding Fred's arm in an iron grip, Hermione to rescue Ron from Crookshanks while simultaneously relieving Mr Weasley of the bludgeoning spoon. Then she rushed over to Harry to see if he was alright, getting there at the same time as George who gave a small smile as he checked to see if Harry's wrist was broken (which it wasn't).  
Harry sat on the floor, watching Hermione while George inspected his wrist. He hadn't seen what had happened by the sofa but he did see the glances the pair exchanged. Oh dear... Ron was definitely not going to like this.  
  
Five minutes later, the Weasley household sat down to dinner, all much the worse for wear. Ginny had arrived downstairs after hearing the commotion from upstairs and had managed to command order and fix up Ron's leg which had a pretty nasty gash in it from where Crookshanks had attempted to climb up his leg. The conversation from Mrs Weasley was very clipped and halfway through pudding (pancakes and maple syrup!) she asked the twins to stay behind so she could 'have a little talk' with them. They both rolled their eyes, Fred retreating to eating his 13th pancake and George, catching Hermione looking in his direction, grinned at her and she grinned back.  
This time, Ginny saw these gestures and with a worried look at Ron (who hadn't noticed a thing), whispered something into Harry's ear who nodded and they excused themselves from the table. Mrs Weasley smiled fondly at them, she was very glad those two had found each other.  
  
Up in Ginny's room, she and Harry were having a very tense conversation about the situation. Having both noticed George and Hermione's smiles at each other they were beginning to grow worried about how Ron would take it.  
'It'll kill him Gin, it really will. He's liked her for too long.'  
'I know, but what can we do. It's not like we can tell George to lay off her is it?'  
'We could. No actually we couldn't, he'd kill us.'  
'Or deny it. You know, he's never been exactly interested in many girls. Fred's usually the one that gets them. I dunno why though, they're pretty much the same in every respect.'  
'Ok, look. Ron's pretty oblivious at the moment, right? Why don't we let him keep it that way? He probably wouldn't even notice unless we told him.'  
'Yeah. Yeah, I s'pose. And anyway, we don't even know if anything's happened between her and George. I mean, they're only smiling at each other, right?'  
'Right,' said Harry, thoroughly unconvinced.  
'Yeah,' said Ginny, thoroughly unconvinced.  
'I'm so glad we don't have to go through that any more,' mused Harry.  
'Same,' replied Ginny and leaned over to kiss him. 


	5. The party

Wow! Even more reviews! I'm so touched guys, really. It's nice to know I'm not writing complete b/s that noone understands!  
  
HermyGWeasley- my loyal reviewer! Thank you so much for writing every chapter, makes me feel all warm and cuddly inside! You're a star x  
  
George-and-Hermione- glad you like it, I'm going for the 'cute' side of it, but this next chapter should spice things up a little! Hope you like it!  
  
Pixieballerina- nice name btw! Glad you like it! Here's the next update!  
  
Well here we go (oh, and btw, I realised how many grammatical mistakes I've made when my bro decided to read it and point them all out to me! Sorry if it makes it difficult to understand. I'm generally a fast typer but that naturally comes with mistakes! Sorry!)  
  
'Well, it's gotta be a surprise.'  
'Duh. What you think we're gonna invite him to plan his own birthday party.'  
'Well, from what I've heard and seen of the Dunces-'  
'Dursleys.'  
'Whatever. Well, from what we've seen and heard, I doubt he even knows what a birthday party is.'  
'That's true. Remember his first Christmas at school? He almost collapsed with shock when he found out he'd got presents!'  
'Yeah, or that may have been the jumper mum knitted for him. I've always found them a bit tight round the neck. Makes it a little difficult to breathe, y'know?'  
'Hmmm...'  
  
The twins sat on their beds, heads together, planning the party they were going to throw for Harry the next day. And in true Weasley twin style, they were going to make sure it was a party he never forgot... unless someone accidentally Obliviated him, but the chances of that were slim to none... Okay, slim.  
'We're going to have to tell mum what we've got planned,' George stated morosely. If Mrs Weasley was involved, in any way shape or form, the party's fun-factor was likely to drop from a 9.5 to 2.  
'Not everything?' asked Fred worried.  
'Well, obviously not everything. That would ruin the whole point!'  
So for the next fifteen minutes they discussed what they should and shouldn't tell their mother about what they had planned. Eventually they had it whittled down to two things they would and seventeen they wouldn't.  
'So we tell her about what food and drink we need-' said Fred,  
'But not anything about the decorations, the alcohol, the times we're staying up 'til, the party games, the amount of noise there will undoubtedly be, the clothes we're going to wear-'  
'Oh come on. Ours is going to be pretty refined. It's just the girls they don't need to know about'  
'Right. Well that makes three things we can tell her. Suddenly I don't feel so guilty!'  
'Anything else we don't tell her about?'  
'The fact that we're probably going to have to knock out both Mum and Dad and lock them in the broom cupboard so they can't upset our fun.'  
'Is there any other way? I don't fancy the look on Mum's face when she gets out of the cupboard any more than a finding large dead Kneazle in the bath!'  
'We could send them out for dinner...'  
'That's an idea. They haven't been out for ages, it could be our treat for them. A sort of late anniversary present.'  
'Fred. Their anniversary was last November.'  
'Or a really early one.'  
'I'm all for that. Let's go put it to them.'  
  
Ten minutes later  
  
'Well, I must say, that's a lovely idea boys,' smiled Mrs Weasley. 'Your father and I haven't been out for ages. And we're not really doing anything tomorrow either.' The twins nodded encouragingly. 'Alright, what is it? What do you want?'  
'Nothing mum,' said Fred smoothly. 'Really,' he enforced.  
'We just figured that we've been getting up your backs a little lately and you seem a little tense.'  
'So why not send you out for a nice quiet evening with dad?'  
'You won't even have to do any cooking...' George whispered silkily. 'None at all.' A glazed expression grew on Mrs Weasley's face.  
'No cooking. That does sound good,' and she wandered away in a blissful manner, emerging herself in a world without the chore of cooking.  
'Sorted,' the twins grinned at each other and ran back up the stairs.  
  
'Ok, what are you two up to?!' The twins stopped in their tracks as the saw Hermione, spread out luxuriously on Fred's bed, a look of intense interest on her face as she looked at the twins intently.  
'Up to?' George enquired innocently. Hermione grinned.  
'Yes, up to,' and when the twins faces remained impassive (they were very practised at this) she pressed on, 'sending your parents out to dinner, all expenses on you. I might have changed on the outside, but I'm not stupid. What's up?'  
The twins had to tell her. Even if they didn't want to (which they did) they would have had to, that face just couldn't be refused.  
'Ok,' relented Fred, sitting down on her feet, smiling at her. 'We're organising a surprise party for Harry's birthday tomorrow.'  
'Seriously?!'  
'Seriously,' said George, attempting to sit on Hermione's stomach and getting shoved off, having to kneel by the side of the bed instead. 'But keep it quiet. We've already told Ginny about it and that's why she and Harry haven't been seen for the last two hours.' The twins both shuddered involuntarily and Fred continued,  
'So we've been able to plan in peace. Only trouble is-'  
'You can't tell your mum, right?' asked Hermione and the twins both nodded. 'Okay,' said Hermione, 'what's going on with this party that means you need them out of the house?' The twins glanced at each other and Fred handed Hermione the list they had made. She glanced down at it, eyebrows raised.  
'Well?' asked George. 'What do you think?' subconsciously playing with a strand of Hermione's hair that was hanging off the bed, then coming to his senses and dropping it quickly. Hermione scanned the list and leaned forward to grab the pen that Fred had put behind his ear.  
'Yes, okay, hmmm... yeah actually that might be alright, how much?!, we'll see, no, yes, no, no-' The twins exchanged glances. Maybe the Hermione they knew hadn't changed quite as much as they'd thought.  
'You have GOT TO BE KIDDING!'  
'Shhhhhhhh!' said George, clamping a hand over Hermione's mouth who looked shocked at the contact.  
'Grge... cnt... brth...' came her voice from behind his hand.  
'What? Oh, sorry!' and he removed the hand, however reluctantly, from her lips.  
'It's okay. But THIS isn't,' and she pointed to the paper, and the twins craned in for a better look.  
'Oh, that,' said George grinning.  
'Oh come on 'mione, it'll be fun,' said Fred. 'Pleeeeease?'  
'NO'.  
'Ah well, it was worth a try,' said George turning back to the list.  
'Oh, and one question,' Hermione turned to Fred. 'Is this your writing?' and Fred nodded. 'Thought so. Anyway, just exactly how much alcohol do you mean when you put "lots"?' Fred grinned the grin that suggested pure evil behind the rather innocent and good-looking face-  
'Ah Hermione, darling sweetie pie. Is mummy's little girl worried about alcohol consumption?'  
'Not worried no. Just curious,' Hermione replied trying to keep her face straight and failing immensely. You just couldn't stop smiling when you looked at his face.  
'Well then. Why don't you just be content with "as much as we can lay our hands on"!'  
So for the next couple of hours, the three of them sat discussing all the particulars of what the party was going to entail. In truth the twins hardly took in much more than a couple of points, too concentrated on the girl who had changed herself so much, but also seemed to be changing them too. They also failed to notice a distinct lack of Ron around the house, unaware he was sat outside their room, listening in on everything they were discussing.  
  
'Okay then mum, have a good time.'  
'Are you sure you kids will be alright? I mean, I don't have to go if you'd prefer not-'  
'No, really mum, we'll be just fine.'  
'Alright then boys, look after everyone won't you? God help me, I'm putting you in charge seeing as you're the oldest.'  
'Thanks mum.'  
And with that, plus a little chivvying from the twins, Mr and Mrs Weasley left the house, hopefully not to return until past midnight.  
'Sorted,' they grinned and went to find Hermione who had taken up responsibility for the decorating.  
'Have they left?'  
'Yup, and that gives up about six hours to ourselves,' said Fred jovially. 'How's the decorating going?'  
'What does it look like?' asked Hermione exasperatedly. 'I thought this was going to be fun, you know, streamers and things, but I just keep tripping over it all. I'm not terribly artistic,' she concluded miserably.  
'Please pretty please tell me you're not trying to do that without magic,' said Fred, grinning at the amount of tissue paper had managed to get tangled in her hair.  
'Here,' said George, and with a flick of his wand, every single decoration flew, not into their place, but at Hermione, causing her to fall over into Fred and they both collided to the floor, yelling incoherently at George.  
'Oops. Sorry guys,' apologized George, helping them to their feet and smirking at the position they were both in. In truth, they looked like they were conjoined at the head. 'Hehe, it's a nice look guys, you might want to consider staying like that!' Both Hermione and Fred, looking equally abashed at the situation, started yelling at George again to get them untangled.  
'THIS IS NOT DIGNIFI-'  
'I SWEAR GEORGE, YOU'LL BE IN SO MIUCH SH-'  
'AND IF YOU DON'T GET US OUT OF THI-'  
'YOU'D BETTER GET US UNTANG-'  
'RIGHT NOW!!!' This last part, they yelled together at the same time with equally menacing looks on their faces, and they burst out laughing.  
'Okay, okay, keep your hair on,' muttered George, 'although that wouldn't be too difficult seeing as it seems to be strapped to your head-'  
'George, I'm warning you, brother or not, you will suffer if we're not out of here in ten seconds!'  
So, with a flick of his wand, the decorations flew into a pile at the corner of the room, leaving Fred and Hermione to collapse onto the floor again, Hermione conveniently falling on top of Fred, winding him.  
'Oh, sorry Fred, are you okay,' she asked concernedly as she rolled off him.  
'Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Lucky for me you're quite petite. Now if it was someone like Pansy Parkinson-' he grinned evilly, 'I'd be in a much worse state!' And he heaved himself to his feet, offering Hermione his hand.  
'Ouch! And yet so true!' Hermione grinned, taking Fred's hand, who pulled her up, perhaps a little too forcefully and, for the second time that holidays, Hermione found herself in the arms of a very good looking Weasley twin.  
'Err... right... yeah, let's get these decorations fixed up then,' said Fred awkwardly, slowly letting Hermione go and turning to the large pile of decorations and pulling out his wand. As Fred fixed all the streamers into place, George whispered in Hermione's ear,  
'Well, I may be able to mend bones, but when it comes to all the girly decorations and things, I usually have to leave it to Fred,' causing Hermione to giggle and turn to him.  
'George?'  
'Hmm?'  
'Why didn't you do something becoming a healer? You'd have been really good at it.'  
'Didn't get enough OWLs,' he replied simply. 'And then Umbridge drove us to the point of insanity so we left. Simple.'  
'Yeah, but, do you really enjoy the whole joke shop thing?'  
'Course I do... although-'  
'Alright, that's done!' came Fred's voice from the other side of the room and they looked up. Every single possible surface was covered in streamers, paper chains, coloured bubbles and fizzing multicoloured sparks. And across the ceiling was a flashing banner reading  
HAPPY 17TH BIRHTDAY HARRY!  
  
'Umm, Fred?' asked Hermione tentatively.  
'Yup?' said Fred jovially, clearly pleased with his effort.  
'You, uh, can't spell birthday.'  
'I what? Oh, crap!' and he fixed it to how it should be. 'D'you reckon he'd notice if we left it the way it was?'  
'Oy, don't be mean, of course he would!' retorted Hermione, but she didn't look completely sure of herself. 'Okay, now this is done, I'm going to go and change. See you soon!' and she disappeared off upstairs, remembering to jump the trick step the twins had left there. She emerged half an hour later wearing a short black dress with a not-entirely-modest neckline.  
'Wow,' the twins breathed.  
'God Hermione, how do you expect us to live up to that?!' asked George, looking her up and down.  
'Well, I'm off to go and put on MY dress,' said Fred grinning and ran off upstairs, presumably to go and find Ron and let Ginny know it was time to bring Harry downstairs.  
Hermione turned to look at the table the twins had set up which was laden with food and lots and lots of drink, firewhisky, butterbeer and even some alcopops, though Hermione had no idea how the twins had managed to get hold of muggle drinks.  
'What do you think?' asked George.  
'Well, we're not going to go thirsty at any rate,' and George smiled at her. They turned when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs but it was only Fred and Ron, who was looking slightly dazed and tired.  
'They're just coming,' said Fred. 'Everyone ready? Okay,' and with a wave of his wand, all the lights went out. Soon they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. And then a thump and shriek, several more thumps and a groan.  
'Oh shite,' said George and relit the lights. Sure enough, Harry was once again at the bottom of the stairs cradling his wrist and Ginny was stuck in the trick step and Ron ran forward to release her.  
'You really need to get rid of that before you kill someone!' Hermione said to the twins and they gave a small nod.  
'Well, it's not the way we'd have chosen you to give your entrance Harry, but happy birthday anyway!' said George as Harry clambered to his feet and gave a shocked look at the room.  
'Wow. Guys, you really didn't have to-'  
'But we wanted to Harry,' said Hermione walking forward and hugging him. 'Happy Birthday!'  
  
Five hours later, they were all to be found on the couch, all considerably more tipsy than they were at the beginning of the party but all seemingly very happy.  
'Ohhhh,' groaned Ginny. 'I have eaten waaaay too much. I need the loo!' and she ran off.  
'Do you reckon she's okay?' asked Fred?  
'Ill go see,' said George and he went after Ginny.  
'I'm going to get another butterbeer. Anyone want?' asked Ron. Everyone said they did so Harry agreed to help Ron go get some more glasses and butterbeers, leaving Fred and Hermione alone on the sofa.  
'I think it went quite well, don't you?' giggled Hermione. 'Except the whole step thing, obviously'  
'Yeah, I think Harry liked it which is cool. Whole point of the evening, right?'  
'Right!' said Hermione who was still giggling.  
'Mione, why are you giggling so much?' asked Fred.  
'I think I'm a bit of a lightweight actually, did I mention that?' and she laughed so hard, she fell off the sofa onto the floor.  
'Oh god, what are we going to do with you?' said Fred, pulling her up where she proceeded to sit on his lap.  
'Well, whatever you want really.'  
'Whatever I want? Anything?'  
'Mmmhmmm,' mumbled Hermione. So he kissed her. And she kissed him back.  
'Man, he's a good kisser,' Hermione thought as he deepened the kiss and she ran her fingers through his hair. And then they were interrupted...  
  
'Mate, what's up with you lately? You've hardly spoken a word to any of us. What about 'mione, I'm sure she'd like to talk to you once in a while.' Ron and Harry were in the kitchen, searching for some clean glasses for more drinks.  
'I don't really know 'bout that. She was perfectly content to talk to the twins for over two hours yesterday.'  
'Only because you keep shutting yourself in your room.'  
'You know what Harry? I... I'm not sure if I didn't prefer the old Hermione, you know?'  
'What?! The old Hermione? Mate, she was quite pretty then, but seriously, are you feeling okay?'  
'It's not just how she looks. When I heard her talking to Fred and George, she had so much confidence. She never used to be like that. I... I just don't think I deserve her.' And silence reigned.  
'Well, if that's how you feel, let it all go mate. Seriously. Let her have someone else without going wild with jealousy.'  
'Yeah. Yeah, you're right.' And they walked back into the room with the drinks. You know what they saw.  
  
'Gin? You alright?'  
'Yeah, I'm fine,' and she walked out of the loo. 'George, I just needed a piss that's all.'  
'Oh, okay then.' They headed back to the room.  
'George?'  
'Yes, my darling wee sis?'  
'There'd actually something I wanted to talk to you about-'  
'What?'  
'Actually, about Hermione. It's just that-'  
  
And they walked back into the room. You know what they saw.  
  
Keep reviewing! R xxx 


	6. Diaries

**Oooooh! So many reviews! I don't think I'll ever get tired of them, and they're all so lovely, thank you all!**

**Thank you to HGW (can't be bothered to write it all out no offence!) as always, Pixieballerina (with the still highly cool name!), thesheepmoos (another very original name!), Doodleflip (actually, you all have really cool names, I'm really jealous now!), thedarkonereborn (a new loyal reviewer- it seems HGW has some competition!), Eratosthenese (sorry about Harry, if I'd known you wanted him to be with you, I would have course changed the entire plot!), Jenniblack (I am trying to keep Hermione in the good books as much as poss. Glad to see it seems to be working!), Blakc-rose23 (I'm sorry! I just love cliff hangers, not for reading but it's so fun to put them in and be the only one who knows what's coming next! Mwahahahaha!) and my two unsigned reviewers- 'me' and 'randomreviewer'! Thank you guys so much! Oh, and I'm really sorry it's taken so long to do this chapter- I've been away for about a week seeking refuge with several friends (on a much needed break, my brothers are driving me mental!). Hope this makes up for it! I will try and write a couple of chapters tomorrow as well coz im off to france on sat! **

**Bit of a different format this chapter, tell me if it sucks coz I won't do it again if it does! R xxx**

George wasn't talking to Hermione. Fred wasn't talking to George. Ron wasn't talking to Hermione or Fred and as a result Harry wasn't talking to Ron. Ginny wasn't talking to Fred and Mr and Mrs Weasley weren't talking to any of them. All in all, the atmosphere in the Weasley household was reminiscent of the inside of a freezer.

The immediate situation after everybody walked in on Hermione and Fred was about as awkward as it could get. No-one wanted to say anything, no-one wanted to do anything and in silence, they all retreated to their rooms in silence, one by one. Of course, this left all the decorations up and all the alcohol bottles and glasses out so when Mr and Mrs Weasley arrived (who weren't in a terribly good mood anyway after one of the soup ladles had decided that Mr Weasley was good target for a bit of bashing), neither was terribly impressed by the state of the house. In other words, they were livid. Well, Mrs Weasley was livid, Mr Weasley had pretended to be angry so as to escape his wife's wrath and stay in her good books.

* * *

Ginny

Dear Diary,

Oh my God- the worst worst worst thing has happened. Well, we had Harry's party and everyone was really enjoying themselves and me and Harry had been careful so that George and Hermione weren't left alone in the room together, you know, after we saw glances between them. Turns out though that it wasn't George we needed to worry about coz when I came back from the loo, we found FRED kissing Hermione! Fred! I mean, ouch, that's not good from anyone's p.o.v. (apart from his, obviously). Look at it this way, George is now in a real piss with Fred, I mean major piss. I've never seen them like this before. They've always been best mates and now they're avoiding each other at all costs. I even found George sleeping in the bath last night coz he didn't want to sleep in the same room as Fred. That was a little embarrassing actually, let your imagination fill you in on that one! So now Ron's in a huge sulk, even worse than after Krum, and you know how bad that one was. Hermione herself seems a little dazed, must be the hangover, and I don't know whether she wants to be with Fred or not. I'm getting the impression not, so as to try and uncomplicate things. Mind you, telling Fred that isn't going to be good, he's the only one who doesn't seem to have been bitten by the 'I'm-a-miserable-git bug'. Crap, I should really go talk to her, see if I can offer any advice. Oh yeah, and to cap it all off, Fred let off another one of those stupid 'handy fireworks' and now the kitchen's orange and mum can't fix it so she's in an even worse mood than yesterday. I'll write soon, love Gin x

* * *

Harry

Oh bloody hell! Fred and Hermione- why didn't I see it coming? Fred is always the one that gets all the girls, look at Angelina... and Katie. Ok, and Alicia as well. Well, I've seen the twins have little fights before, but nothing like this. I really think George likes her, more than Fred I mean, so that's just put the bloody icing on the stupid cake. Oh and add Ron into the equation, oh yeah, and Hermione with a hangover.

I can't take this, I'm going to Gin's room

Harry

* * *

Ron

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! This isn't fair! Why does stupid bloody Fred always get all the stupid bloody things I want?! I can never match up to them, ever! Anything I do, it's just not good enough. And I'd go and drink some of dad's firewhisky to try and get rid of all this confusion but since he found Gin with it, he's hidden it and I don't know bloody where. Hermione's been avoiding me, so's Harry, and Gin. Only George has talked to me since, and that doesn't count Mum screaming herself hoarse at me for the state of the house. I tried to tell her it wasn't my idea, that the twins planned it all but of course, it was all MY fault coz Harry's MY friend. I hate this place, I need to get out.

Ron

* * *

George

Ok, so maybe bewitching bludgers to fly at my head wasn't such a good idea. But I needed to vent my anger, really had to. But then when one got my nose, and I tired to hit it away and got my nose with my bat... and then fell off my broom and landed face down on the ground... only to find Crookshanks who wanted to climb on me... ouch. But that doesn't even hurt as much as inside. God that sounds a mushy pile of crap, but it's true. I really like her, I really really do. But he got there first, as usual. Bastard. I don't usually say anything, I pretend I don't care, but I can't do that this time, this is different. She's different.

Then I found I couldn't even stay in the same room as Fred, and I couldn't stay in the spare room coz she's in there ... not that I'd mind sharing obviously! And I tried to go in the attic but that stupid ghoul chucked a piece of lead piping at me and it hit my nose and broke it again, even after I'd mended it perfectly the last time. So I had to sleep in the bath. But then, yuk! Two in the morning and my little sister going to the loo- it's really the stuff of nightmares. So I've taken to sleeping on the couch, where she lay... crap it. I need to go out again, oh no I can't, Ron's out too. Miserable git's been moping around too. I don't think he likes her anymore you know. I think he just needs to find an excuse to be miserable. It seems to be his natural state of mind these days.

Well, in a minute I'll go out and do some degnoming. I just feel the need to chuck something small and annoying so far it hurts. Pity Fred isn't small enough. Plus it might even cheer mum up a bit. I tried to fix the kitchen, but it was a faulty firework so I didn't know it was just going to flash green _and_ orange, looks quite cool but makes you sick after a while. Later,

George

* * *

Hermione

Dearest Diary,

My life is in a bit of a fix at the moment and I need some advice. I've tried talking to my mirror but I think it's perpetually drunk so all I've got is 'whatever mate, it's your problem, not mine' which really doesn't help. So I arrived here four days ago and last night we had Harry's birthday party which was all going really well until I accidentally kissed Fred. Ok, when I say 'accidentally' I was asking for it really. But I was really drunk, more than ever before, so now I have a headache as well which just adds to my problems. The thing is, I didn't mean for it to happen, I never meant for anything to go this far. In truth, I actually like George better, you know, when he helped me with my ankle I thought... well never mind. But he won't talk to me now, neither will Ron. Harry's tried but it's really embarrassing and so now this is ruining my entire holiday because I don't know what to do or what to think.

_Diary: Well dear, if you want my advice, I would tell the young man that you don't want this episode to put a damper on you holiday and you would be very grateful if you could put the whole incident behind you. I'm sure he would understand. And you could use the fact that you weren't particularly in your right mind at the time to your advantage if you felt like it. But you should just do what you think is right._

Oh. Well, thank you, I'll see. Actually, no! I'm going to tell Fred I can't do this anymore. I'll go and do it now. Thanks diary.

_No problem at all dear._

Thank you. All my love, Hermione xxx

* * *

Fred

Heya,

Wow, I'm in such a good mood! Unfortunately can't share it with anyone coz they're all bloody miserable. But if I kissed her AND she kissed me back, they have got to accept it really. But George isn't talking to me which is really strange coz he's never done that before. I mean, I know he thinks she's fit (I mean, come on, who wouldn't?) but seriously, why is he getting so worked up? He hasn't even talked to her that much. Plus, she decided to lie on MY bed when she came to talk to us, not his. Well, as he seems a bit too sober for pranking, I've taken the opportunity to do a little myself and still only get half the blame (coz mum obviously thinks we're in it together). And then, wait for it, the stupid bugger tried to fix the orange! Ok, so admittedly, it wasn't meant to do the colour thing, but I think it's quite cool. But flashing orange AND green... yeah, I almost puked.

Anyway, I haven't seen Hermione since yesterday and I really want to see her, so I might go to her room now... oh, no wait, she's coming here... should be interesting. Later!

Fred

* * *

Supper, in a word, was dire. Hermione had gone to Fred's room to tell him she couldn't do the whole relationship thing with him. He had said he understood but was now in such a bad mood he didn't even laugh when Mrs Weasley put her foot through the replica swamp he'd placed on one of the stone tiles in the kitchen floor. Mr Weasley had, once again, been beaten around the head, this time with all the spoons on the table as he sat down to eat, Ron had gone for a walk where it had decided to thunder for a full hour and a half when he was a mile from the house, George had gone out to degnome the garden only to find that their numbers had almost tripled since the beginning of the summer (because no one could be bothered to go out and do it) and had found himself covered with the creatures, every one of them intent on biting some part of his anatomy. Crookshanks had been his rescuer, chasing them off him and back down into their little holes, but that didn't stop the pain. Ginny and Harry were desperately trying to make conversation with everyone but as so few of them were talking to one another, it was pointless and the entire meal was spent in silence.

Hermione was not to be found at the dinner table. She had excused herself with a headache and was currently having a big DMC with her diary whilst copious tears streamed down her face. She was at a complete loss at what to do and now no one was talking to anyone else... This was turning out to be the worst summer ever.

'Look dear,' her diary consoled, 'all I can say is that, however much it may be hurting you now, I believe you made the right choice in what you did.'

'But... but no one's talking to me and... and I c-can't stand it!' sniffed Hermione. 'What with m-mum and d-d-dad arguing all the t-time, I thought it would be more... more relaxing t-to see my friends and have a bit of a r-rest!' She lay down on her bed, her diary falling from her hand and falling to the floor, snapping shut as it did so. 'But I was wrong.' And with that she shut her eyes, only to be awakened by a voice from the door,

'Excuse me, 'ermione, but what eez it you were wrong about?'

* * *

Please review! R xxx


	7. Hermione

**Yo! I'm back again, and hopefully shall put at least one new chapter before I go on holiday tomorrow. Thank you to everyone who reviews as always, you guys make it all worthwhile! **

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**And I also realised I haven't put my disclaimer in for a while so I shall do it now ï**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, nada, rien, zilch, zipall, nichts, niente, niets, Ð½Ð¸ÑÑÐ¾, ingenting, or any other language you want to put it in. All my writing is owed to the prowess and genius that is Ms. J. K. Rowling.**

**Sorry this is a bit of a boring chapter, I'll try and think of something more interesting next time! Am thinking of starting a L/J fic soon. Please tell me if you approve! Luv y'all! R xxx**

Hermione lifted her head off the pillow in shock. She hadn't heard anyone come in and turned her head quickly to find the source of the voice. Standing in the doorway was a tall, willowy young woman with blonde hair which fell down her back in a silvery sheet and eyes the exact colour of forget-me-nots. And indeed, this woman was a little hard to forget, especially as men fell at her feet like dominos!

'Fleur!' cried Hermione, getting up, brushing herself off and giving the woman a big hug. 'How are you? We haven't seen you for absolutely ages! How have you all been?'

'We 'ave been very well, sankyou. Eet is good to be back 'ere, we 'ave been away a very long time.' This statement took Hermione back to the last summer she had stayed here almost an entire year ago. Bill had come home, announcing he and Fleur were to be married that autumn. Mrs Weasley had cried tears of joy for about three days running out of pure joy and Ron had remained very quiet for reasons known to many!

'It has been a long time,' said Hermione. 'How was the wedding? I'm sorry we couldn't come, what with school and everything.'

'Eet was ze best day of my 'ole life! I was so 'appy.' Fleur smiled at the younger girl. 'And we 'ave annuzer surprise for you all.'

'What? What is it?'

'Bill, come 'ere,' Fleur called out of the room. Clearly, they had apparated upstairs, or the rest of the family would have been upstairs with the couple Hermione mused. And then Bill came into the room, hair still in it's ponytail, earring hanging from one ear and dragon skin boots in place.

'Alright Hermione?' Bill grinned as he gave a huge hug, almost lifting her off the floor.

'Heya! How've you been then? And what's this big secret Fleur was telling me about?' Hermione babbled at the man who she'd had a crush on two years before. Fortunately that had died down otherwise there would have been real trouble.

'Ah, hang on. You look great by the way,' Bill smiled as he leant out of the room.

'Thanks, I... Oh wow!'

For Bill had pulled into the room a pram and in it lay a tiny baby with a shock of bright blonde hair and tiny freckles lying on its cheeks. The baby stirred in its sleep, rolling over and clenching its tiny fists.

'Oh Bill... Fleur... I... wow,' Hermione breathed looking at the tiny child. 'What its name? Well, actually I suppose I should ask if it's a boy or a girl!'

'Eet is a girl, and 'er name eez...'

'Well, actually, her name's Hermione, Hermione,' said Bill looking at her anxiously. 'We just love the name, and we know how much you like babies too... you... you don't mind do you?'

'Mind?' breathed Hermione faintly. 'Of course I don't mind!' and without warning she burst into tears, trying to keep as quiet as possible so as not to wake the tiny girl. 'S-sorry,' she stuttered,' I- I've just had a bit of a bad day... actually holiday. I- it's just the best thing to have happened all summer!' and smiling weakly, she hugged the proud parents and sat down on her bed and sobbed quietly into her hands.

Bill and Fleur sat down on either side of her, each offering a friendly shoulder to cry on.

'Look', said Bill quietly, 'I don't know what's happened to you this summer but let us go down to see Mum and Dad and then we'll have a big DMC with you afterwards with plenty of chocolate and as much crying as you need to do, Ok?'

'That sounds great,' Hermione said faintly. Bill kissed her on the top of the head, Fleur kissed her on the cheek and they left the room with the baby Hermione to go and see the rest of the family.

After a couple of minutes and a shriek from Fleur as she, as Hermione suspected, put her foot through the trick step, she heard shrieks of joy and happiness, reminiscent of the last summer and she smiled. At least they came with good news to liven the family up a bit. Maybe this would unite them again. Or maybe not...

Three days later, not only were Fred and George not talking to each other, they were now not talking to Ron. Bill had asked Ron to be Godfather to the little girl, along with his best friend from school, Greg Jenkins, and Fleur's sister Gabrielle who had joined the group two days after Bill and Fleur arrived. Consequently, the twins were suffering from a severe bout of jealousy, despite agreeing with their older brother that they would be a terrible role model for their little niece who would probably kill her parents by the age of six if under their influence. This didn't stop them being angry that Bill had picked Ron instead. Ron had been really happy when asked and accepted at once which had kept him in a good mood for the full three days which, as George pointed out, was a first that summer.

Hermione had spilled out everything that had happened so far to Bill and Fleur who had listened patiently and given her some of the best advice she could have wished for, better than a mirror or a diary.

'Well, what I can do Hermione, is to find out what everyone feels on the subject, without mentioning that you wanted to know, if you like,' said Bill.

'Yes, I would do zat if eet were me in zat situation,' added Fleur. And after much coaxing and persuasion, Bill said he would do it as slyly as possible, so as not to arouse any suspicion.

'Thanks guys. I really appreciate it you know,' Hermione thanked them.

'No probs,' said Bill getting up and walking towards the door. 'I think I'll tackle Ron first, seeing as I'm now in his good books!' and grinning, left the room.

'I sink I will go and see 'ow 'ermione eez. Are you going to be okay?' asked Fleur.

'I'm fine, thanks. You're a real help you know? Thank you.'

'You are very welcome,' and Fleur left too.

As Hermione lay back down on her bed, imagining a world where it had all been sorted out and everyone was happy, a small knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.

'Hello?' she asked.

And into the room strolled George who walked over to the bed, sat down on the end of it and looked at her very hard.

'Hi,' he said blankly, still staring very hard at her.

'Hi,' said Hermione, not quite able to meet his gaze, looking at her fingernails, then at her feet crossed beneath her, then at her duvet cover. 'Look, George, I-'

'If you are going to mention anything about a certain party, a certain twin of mine or anything related, I don't want to hear about it.'

'But I-'

'I said I don't want to hear about it. All I came to say was that I forgive you and you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. We're not all mad at you... well, apart from Fred, but you know, he's just a bit of a self-absorbed git.' Hermione giggled, despite herself and immediately composed herself. 'I also wanted to thank you for fixing the kitchen,' he continued with a surprising amount of dignity. 'You saved me a lot of throwing up and near epileptic fits and for that I am truly grateful.' Hermione wondered how he managed to keep a straight face all the way through this speech when he grinned and finished with, 'And finally, I thought it my duty to inform you that the trick step had been removed because it's not safe anymore.'

'Was it ever?'

'Well, now Hermione junior has joined the family, it's not good if Fleur of Bill puts their foot through it while carrying her, and we had a near miss the other day.'

'Yeah, I was thinking about that. How does it feel to be an uncle?' Hermione asked, slightly relaxing.

'Surprisingly powerful actually. It's quite cool to think I can influence the person she will grow into. I fully intend her to be just as marauding as we were, and I shall insist that Harry gives her the map as soon as you guys have left!'

'I'm sure he won't mind.'

'So, how does it feel to have someone names after you?' he smiled. Hermione faltered,

'I cried,' she offered as explanation.

'Woah, that good huh? I'll have to insist their next kid's called George, just to see what it's like!'

'You can be so arrogant sometimes!'

'But that's why you love me. I wouldn't be me without a touch of arrogance!'

'A touch?'

'Yes, a touch. Come on, I'm not as bad as that Malfoy git... am I?' he asked hesitantly.

'Course you're not. I was only joking. No one is as bad as him.'

'Yeah, that's what I thought. Did I ever tell you about that time we bewitched a suit of armour to follow him around and kick him whenever he said the words 'my father'? That was cool.'

'No, do tell!'

'Well basically, what we did was we bewitched a suit of armour to follow him around and kick him whenever he said the words 'my father'.'

'Oh shut up! I guessed as much!'

'Brainiac!'

And so for the next two hours, George and Hermione sat in her room, chatting. Just chatting. Each felt as happy as they had after the first trick step incident and nothing happened. And they didn't mind, they were just happy to be in each other's presence, and to have someone to talk to.

Two days later, Bill visited Hermione in her room to tell her that Ron had to tell her something and that he was in the process of persuading him to do so. That evening, Ron and Hermione had a long conversation about anything and everything. Ron eventually told Hermione that he didn't like her 'that way' any more and that really, he liked the young Gabrielle who had just turned twelve. He said he was going to wait until she was a bit older to ask her out, because it might seem a bit weird otherwise. And so Ron and Hermione were back on speaking terms having resolved everything thus Harry and Ron were back to normal and Ron was a much happier person as a result.

But one person was left in the house who was not in a good mood. Fred had been as miserable as Ron had been, not even bothering with pranks anymore. Jealous of Ron, angry because of Hermione and annoyed with his mother on principle, his summer was not turning out to be a very good one. Bill had tried talking to him but to no avail.

But he was not to cheer up until a week and a half later for reasons unknown to anyone until three days after that...

Hehe another lovely cliffie or you all, not


	8. Diagon Alley

**Oh please forgive me! I know I haven't updated in such a long time but I have been busy and trying to get the computer in my house is a feat next to impossible! So I hope this makes up for it! As always thank you so much for the reviews, it means so much to me! Oooooh, I also have a new fic up, a Lily and James one, I've been wanting to do one for ages, mostly for the pleasure of being able to write Sirius, I love to bits! Please have a look, it would mean so much to me!**

**Doodleflip- glad you liked the last chapter! Sorry this one didn't come too quickly, hope it's worth the wait!**

**Eratosthenese- I don't mind babbling, the longer the review, the better! That's why most of the ones I give other people are HUGE. And have no point to them at all! Glad u like the fleur/bill match- I always thought they made a cute couple! And l/j does mean lily and not lupin- I'm not that weird! Please have a look at it!**

**Pixieballerina- hope the 'unknown reasons' are good. Thank you for being a loyal reviewer! **

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**Ririana- starting to sort itself out here, hope you like it!**

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**My anonymous reviewers- thank you guys too!**

**And of course, HGW as always- my little star! **

**You know, I always feel like I'm at the Oscars when I write this out! Ah well, never mind! **

'Chocolate or toffee?'

'Chocolate all the way!'

'Ok, Charms or Transfiguration?'

'Charms, it's so much more fun.'

'Ooh, here's a good one...Snape or Umbridge?'

'What? That's not fair!' and before he knew it, a cushion had flown straight at George's head which hit him straight on the nose and knocked him off the sofa.

'Ouch! Bloody hell Hermione, you trying to kill me?' George got to his feet gingerly, nursing his nose and concealing the offending cushion before he caught Hermione off guard and got her squarely on the side of the head. Hermione yelped and chucked it back at him but this time his Beater reflexes came into play and he'd caught and relieved her of all the other cushions close to her before Hermione had even blinked.

'Sorry,' she grinned sheepishly up at him and George grinned. You couldn't help grinning when Hermione smiled at you.

'You didn't answer my question.'

'And I said it wasn't fair.'

'Just because you have underlying passions for your Potions master-'

'Eew! That's gross! Get away from me you sicko!'

'It's nothing to be ashamed of. Actually I've always had this thing for McGonagall,' and seeing the horrified look on her face, George burst into laughter and added 'don't worry 'mione, just kidding.'

'That was not a pleasant picture George. Actually scarring and very wrong,' and Hermione shivered as she made a mental note to try and forget that comment before the beginning of term. It could have disastrous consequences in Transfiguration.

'Oh, I'm sorry. Bet you're going to have fun at school next term!'

'Oh please.'

'We're really going to miss you guys when you go.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, well, maybe not Ron so much, but it's been fun having some different faces around the house-'

'Different people to prank on?' offered Hermione.

'Yeah, that too. Although the best reaction was Ginny's. Did she tell you about that one?'

'Glow in the dark hair? Yeah she told me all about that one,' and she tried to look sternly at him, as she would have done two years ago. It had been more and more difficult to do that lately. Since she and George had made up, she had barely stopped smiling, barely thought about her parents at all, or about him to go back to Hogwarts. Try as she might, she couldn't raise her spirits about going back to school. She wanted to stay. After a pause, Hermione said quietly, 'I'll miss you when I go too.'

'Really?' asked George sceptically.

'Well... I... I'll miss you all of course,' she continued hurriedly, 'because, you know, I... um... like it here and you... who really wants to go back to school anyway?' she finished rather too quickly to pass as an excuse. George, however grinned at her.

'Hermione Granger? Hermione Granger doesn't want to go back to school? Well I never...' and he shook his head in mock disbelievement.

'Hey meanie! I...I'm... I've...'

'Changed?' offered George.

'Exactly.' And silence fell between them. Then Hermione said, 'Anyway, you haven't answered a question I asked you a while ago.'

'Oh really? And what would that be?' but he looked like he already knew the answer.

'Do you really enjoy the whole joke shop thing? I mean, I know you enjoy pranks and everything, but... well... do you?' George looked uncomfortable and pensive at the same time. He looked as though he was working out an adequate answer.

'Well, I do enjoy it, you know, it's kinda been this thing that Fred and I wanted to do, even when we were about seven. But, in the end, it's not quite as fun as I thought it would be. I like the manufacture of it all of course, and if it gets a reaction out of mum then we know the products going to sell,' he grinned, 'but... I dunno. It's just...'

'Not fulfilling?'

'Yeah.' They were however, interrupted at that moment by Harry and Ron bursting in through the kitchen door, broomsticks in hand, and quite as wet as if they had been doused in the lake at school.

'WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!' came Mrs Weasley's screech as they plodded into the dining room, obviously hoping to nick something to eat. 'OUT! THE BOTH OF YOU! AND GET YOURSELVES DREID OFF IMMEDIATELY!'

'Have a little sympathy woman,' muttered Ron as he and Harry trailed up the stairs, leaving a trail of mud and rainwater behind them. Hermione giggled. Mrs Weasley came into the living room and, upon seeing Hermione and George seated there addressed them.

'Alright there dears? We're just going to have some lunch and then we're going off to Diagon Alley and meet up with Fred there, alright? Is there anything in particular you wanted?'

'I wouldn't mind the new Firebolt 3, mum,' grinned George.

'I meant for lunch,' growled Mrs Weasley who then rolled her eyes and walked off in the direction of the kitchen, muttering furiously to herself.

'You'll be the death of her George,' said Hermione trying hard not to smile. 'You'll turn her hair grey!'

'Nah, her hair will remain stubbornly red, just like mine,' he scowled.

'I like your hair. It's individual. Not like mine. Brown,' she tugged at her hair.

'Oh I wouldn't call it brown,' said George taking one of her curls and winding it round his finger.

'Really?' asked Hermione slightly breathlessly at the contact. 'What would you call it?' George deliberated for a few seconds while Hermione started up at him, breathing rather shallow. _I can't let this happen_.

'Mud.'

'Oh you!' and she punched his arm hard.

'Ow!'

'You deserved it!'

'LUNCH!' came Mrs Weasley's voice.

A few hours later, Hermione found herself sitting outside Florean Fortiscue's with Harry, Ron and Ginny, licking her way through a cherry chocolate sundae.

'Where's George gone?' asked Harry.

'Off with mum to Madam Malkin's. Apparently he said he'd treat her to a new set of dress robes,' said Ron.

'That's nice of him,' commented Hermione.

'Yeah, I think he feels a bit guilty about having more money than us, he treats us quite a lot really. Fred does too,' Ginny said, putting far too much raspberry sorbet into her mouth and almost choking. Thumping her on the back, Harry said carefully,

'Have you noticed he's been a bit... different lately?'

'You mean happier,' said Ginny recovering. 'Yeah he has.'

'Wonder what's up...' mused Hermione.

'I think we might be about to find out,' said Harry. 'Here he is now.' Fred came over to their table and plopped himself down between Ginny and Hermione.

'Hey Fred,' said Ginny. 'How's the shop doing?'

'Pretty good actually. We recently hired a new worker person thingy... what are they called?'

'Employee?' offered Hermione.

'Yeah, one of those. Well he's a bit stupid, but he does the job. Stan Shunpike mean anything to any of you?'

'The Knight Bus guy?' asked Harry. 'Yeah, I know him. Lots of pimples?'

'That's the one. Well, apparently after the old driver died, he was offered the job but he actually managed to crash it. I mean, that's a bit of a feat, it's charmed to be uncrashable. So he was fired but I thought it sounded quite cool so I hired him.''Is that a terribly safe idea?' asked Hermione concernedly.

'Safe shmafe,' said Fred tucking into Harry's choconut sundae. 'Who cares?'

'George might,' muttered Hermione, but no one heard her. The rest of the group continued chatting for another half hour until George and Mrs Weasley appeared, both smiling widely. George plonked himself next to Hermione and whispered

'I have to tell you something. All of you except Fred,' and Hermione nodded, curious. After a while, Fred took Mrs Weasley to Gringott's to go and get out some money for the rest of the afternoon and George seized the opportunity to tell Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron what had happened.

'Well, basically, we were in Madam Malkin's and Mum was taking ages to choose the fabric so I said I'd pop out for a few minutes and went over to Quality Quidditch supplies. So I was in there, looking at the new Firebolt-'

'Drooling more like,' said Ginny.

'Excuse me? Who's telling the story? Anyway, someone came up behind me and hugged me round the middle and whispered "guess who?" and I was a little confused and I turned around and-'

'Who was it?' asked Ron. George gave him a look that scorches and continued.

'Angelina Johnson.'

'Oh, how is she?' asked Hermione.

'Shhh. That's not the point. When she saw it was me she said "Oh, hey George. Sorry, I thought you were Fred" and then we chatted for a bit and-'

'She thought you were Fred?' asked Harry, a grin beginning to steal across his face.

'Exactly,' said George. 'Have any of you noticed-'

'He's been a lot happier recently?' asked Hermione. 'Yeah, we were just discussing it before he turned up.

'And he's been down here almost every day this week, "checking on the shop". What's the likelihood that's not all he's been doing?' They all laughed, including Hermione. In her opinion, this was almost one of the best things that could have happened. At that moment, Mrs Weasley came rushing back and, gasping slightly said,

'George dear, do you have my vault key? Fred's gone on ahead to his own vault, but blast it all, I can't find it!' He checked his pockets and found it in his jacket. 'Thank you dear,' and giving him a peck on the cheek, hurried off again. But just as George wiped the lipstick off him cheek, a large explosion from the other end of the street attracted their attention. Screams and shouts began to punctuate the air around them and both Ginny and Hermione fainted as they realised that it had come from Gringott's bank...


	9. St Mungo's

**Boom baby! I'm back! And I am so so so so so so sorry for being away so long! A-levels cane and I have no laptop at skool so with a lack of time and equipment, I have been parted from you lovely readers for about a whole month! I will try never to do it again! And I'm not going to leave any story unfinished I promise!**

**I have so many people to thank/comment etc that I've lost count so just thank you to everyone who reviewed, you are all lovely! Please r&r, tell me if school has made me lose my touch (which hopefully it hasn't but you never can tell!)**

**Lol r xxx**

* * *

In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, commotion reigned. In actual fact in reigned for about three weeks, but this is approximately three minutes afterwards. With both Hermione and Ginny unconscious in their chairs, and the knowledge that Fred had been inside the bank when the blast had happened, Harry, George and Ron sat in their chairs in a complete state of shock. The Sun was shining down on their table and their ice cream sundaes were starting to melt, but quite clearly, this was the last thing concerning them.

'I need to find mum,' George managed to croak out and he left his chair and disappeared into the crowd of screaming and crying shoppers. Meanwhile, Harry and Ron, trying to regain some composure, set about to trying to revive the other two. After a few minutes Ginny fluttered her eyelashes, looking up at Harry who was vent over her with a glass of water and a fan he'd conjured up seconds before.

'Here,' he said gently, and handed her the glass. She took it, but didn't drink, obviously trying to understand what had just happened. Then, realisation spreading over her, she began to sob quietly in the water in her hand.

Ron was trying to revive Hermione, but was quite clearly going about it the wrong way- her lips were turning steadily blue as he expelled cold air from the tip of his wand.

'Ron, look,' said Harry, looking at a large pale something flying towards Ron. 'Isn't that-'

'George's signal,' Ron finished, and stood up, waving his wand and making the something disappear. 'I'll go, you stay here and try and wake her up.' Harry nodded, and Ron jogged off in the direction George went,

George's signal was one he'd used frequently over the summers. He usually used it if he was practising one of his products and it went wrong. The signal was one of a pair of wings, with a letter G in the middle. It usually flew to whoever in the family was nearest and let them know he was in trouble.

Five minutes later, Ron and George reappeared, supporting Mrs Weasley between them. She was chalk white and couldn't quite support herself. George led her to the nearest chair and set her down in it. Hermione, who had been revived a few minutes before got up shakily and walked over to her chair. Crouching down, she muttered n her ear, drawing out her wand at the same time. The colour flooded back into Mrs Weasley's face and her breathing regulated.

George looked between Harry and Ron blankly.

'Every single Auror is there now,' he said wanly. 'Mum tried running towards the bank when she heard the explosion. Moody caught her and hen she collapsed. That's when I go there.' Harry and Ron nodded. There was nothing they could saw in answer to that.

'They'll be looking now?' asked Harry. George nodded. And at that moment, Ginny let a small shriek, but not one of distress. For beside her shoulder hovered a very pale pair of wings... with the letter F clearly set between them.

* * *

'I'm so sorry,' she whispered. 'About everything.' She swallowed, trying to hold back the tears she knew were coming.

'Shh, it's okay Hermione, it's okay.' She laid a hand on his and squeezed slightly. He squeezed hers back, and that's when she started to cry.

* * *

'How is he?' asked Harry as Hermione left the ward. She smiled, looking very much like how she had in their third year, tired and thin.

'He's fine,' she said. 'Healer Zratza told me it'll take him a couple of weeks to recover, but they've patched him up pretty well considering.'

'I think I'll go see him after lunch, give him a bit of time to sleep,' said Harry. Then as an afterthought he added, 'Have you seen Fred yet?'

'No, I was going to go see him now. Want to come?'

* * *

When they entered the Evan Shakovski ward, they found Fred lying on his bed, deep in conversation with a girl, obviously quite as distraught as Hermione had been several minutes ago. The girl looked up, it was Angelina. There was a solitary tear sliding down her cheek, but she smiled at them anyway.

'Looks like you've got extra company,' she smiled at Fred. 'I should probably go.'

'You don't have to,' said Harry, not wanting to rob them of a private moment just by their presence.

'No really, it's okay,' Angelina said, standing up. 'I should probably go and get some sleep. But can I come back again this evening?'

'Course you can,' said Fred, and Angelina bent down to kiss him. Hermione and Harry looked away, both suddenly becoming very interested in the various gruesome portraits around the walls.

Only when Angelina had swept past them with a small smile and a muttered 'See you soon,' did they proceed to Fred's bed.

'Hey mate, how you feeling?' asked Harry, resting a hand on his shoulder.

'Like a building fell on top of me,' grinned Fred. Obviously the incident hadn't dented his sense of humour.

'When are you going to be out of here?' asked Hermione.

'Few days. Healers are driving me mental. Got some crazy trainee, same one who did dad's... what are they called? The sewing things?'

'Stitches?' Hermione and Harry supplied in unison.

'Yeah. Well, he's insane, no doubt about it. Keeps saying I should try these weird things called 'pain killers'. I mean, what the hell are 'pain killers'? Sound lethal.'

'They're,' began Hermione, but stopped mid sentence, knowing that Fred probably didn't' want nor need to know, especially with the headache he was bound to have. 'Never mind,' she finished softly.

'Do you two want to talk?' asked Harry quietly.

'No,' they both said a little too loudly.

'Okay. Well, I need the loo. I'll be back in a minute, okay?' But he left without waiting to hear an answer.

'Well...' said Fred, avoiding Hermione's eye.

'I-,' said Hermione.

'Yeah.'

Why couldn't she say what she wanted to? Why? What was stopping her? Nothing. So she said it.

'Fred, I'm sorry about everything. I'm sorry I got drunk, I'm sorry about the party, I'm sorry about not talking to you, I'm sorry about the bank. And-' she faltered. 'I'm... I'm glad you've found Angelina.'

'Really?' asked Fred gently.

'Really,' she replied, and smiled weakly at him.

'Hermione?'

'Hmm?'

'Go to George.'

'What?' she asked quickly.

'Go to him. Tell him I'll see him as soon as I can. Tell him thank you.'

'Sure.'

'And-,' this time it was Fred's turn to falter. 'I'm glad for you too.'

'For what?' she asked quizzically. But Fred didn't answer. He didn't need to. Even though he'd been in a stress with George, hadn't talked to him for days and days, he still noticed everything. It was second nature. Hermione smiled at him, whispered, 'get better soon,' gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked away.

'And Hermione,' Fred called after her.

'Yes?' she turned around.

'Tell him...'

'What?'

'Tell him he's a stupid idiot for going in there after me.'

* * *

'Well that's nice,' said George smiling slightly. 'Charming in fact.'

'Yeah, you can definately tell you're his brother,' grinned Hermione, helping herself to a chocolate frog lying on George's bedside table.

'Oh, apart from the fact we're identical.'

'Yeah, apart from that!'

George rolled his eyes. 'I was going to eat that you know,' he said sulkily, now looking at the remainder of the frog left in hermione's hand.

'Aw, now I feel really bad,' she grinned evilly.

'Woah,' George said. 'Do you have any idea how much you looked like Malfoy just then?!'

'Oy!' shouted Hermione and made to hit his arm, but stopped herself just in time, reminding herself that not 48 hours ago that arm had been shattered into thousands of tiny fragments. They'd actually had to remove the bones and then give him the 'Skelegrow' potion because 'uzzervize ze arm could end up looking like ze tail of a perticaularrrly spiny dragon,' (in the words of George's healer who wasn't insane, thankfully, but whose Russian accent was so thick, it was very difficult to make out what he was saying.

'Thanks,' said George, noting that she'd chosen not to whack him. He may have had to have strangled her if she'd tried. Unfortunately, at the moment he only had the use of one arm and one leg, so that could have been a little difficult.

'You're welcome,' she smiled back at him.

'So, where have my unloving family scampered off to?' he asked, in mock sullenness.

'Well, your dad's gone back to the Ministry to see if he can find anything out about the attack.'

'It was definitely an attack then?'

'Yeah. Moody said they'd found evidence of Death Eater presence.' George grimaced.

'Your mother, on the other hand, has gone home for a few hours to get some sleep and wonder why, instead of only one son in hospital, she has two.' George grinned.

'Oh come on. What could I have done?'

'I don't' know. You could have waited like the rest of us. When you just disapparated...'

'I know I know, I caused everyone double the worry. Mum's already given me the lecture. But I mean, he's-'

'Your brother, I know. I think I'd have done the same thing. Anyway, Ron and Ginny are currently upstairs eating up half the canteen I'm sure. Bill and Charlie have both been owled. Bill's still in the country and he says he'll be here tomorrow. Charlie's still in Romania though but he'll be here as soon as possible.'

'They don't need to come and see-'

'But they want to, I'm sure,' interrupted Hermione. 'Think of the countless times you had to see Charlie last year with the Hebridean Black burns.'

'Yeah, I s'pose,' relented George. 'It'd be good to see them at least.'

'Yeah, I haven't seen Charlie for ages. Have I missed anyone?'

'How bout Harry?'

'He's with Fred.'

'Cool.'

' He said he'd come see you in a hour or so.'

'Okay.'

'Did I tell you Angelina was in Fred's ward when we went to see him?'

'No, what happened?'

'Well...'

And so it continued. Hermione stayed in George's room for over two hours, chatting away like they usually did. Although this time, Hermione came to realise she had almost lost him. In the attempt to save his brother, he had almost been killed, and this had brought Hermione to see him in a different light. An entirely different light. She couldn't lose him, she couldn't' let something like that ever happen. Ever.

* * *

Please R&R! Lol r xxx


	10. Reconciliation

**As a special treat for all of you, I'm trying to update regularly again (please note the word 'trying', I'm not making any promises!). However, this particular chapter is probably going to take me five times the usual as I'm writing in the dark and touch typing isn't my strong point! Well, this can be my punishment for staying away so long! Thank you as always to all my lovely reviewers! (Do you have any idea how long it took me to find that last 'v'?!) R&R! Lol r xxx**

After two weeks in St Mungo's, George was getting restless and very bored (as was to be expected or someone as active and prank-dependent as he!).

'All there is to do is to look at that bloody picture of Gordon the Gruesome accidentally disembowelling himself, and that is not the best means of entertainment... especially right after eating,' he had complained to a sympathetic crowd of well-wishers (namely Fred, Bill, Charlie, Ron and Hermione). Fred had been discharged over a week ago which George didn't think was entirely justified, seeing as he shouldn't have been hurt at all. They just hadn't accounted for a last attack staged almost directly above them. Fred had escaped with a couple of broken limbs and a mild concussion (which Ron said he didn't actually notice, earning a large bat bogey hex right in the face from Ginny, who had overheard). George however was lucky to have escaped with his life. It had taken over half an hour to find them and it was Lupin who found them first. Had he not had a thorough grounding in elementary healing (his mother had been a healer herself and had taught him how to cure any damage he may have inflicted upon himself during his transformations), it would have been likely George would have ended up on the terminally ill ward along with Gilderoy Lockhart and Frank and Alice Longbottom, or dead.

'Darling, how are you feeling? Do you need anything? Drink? Food? Would you like a newspaper?' Mrs Weasley bustled into the ward looking much better than she had in the previous weeks. In her wake followed Fred.

'Sweetie pops, can I get you anything? Would you like a cool flannel with which to mop your pale brow?'

Fred, stop that at once. How would you feel if you were still in your bed with nothing to do and no-one to see?' asked Mrs Weasley irritably.

'I'd be sitting and pondering all possible ways I might not be in such a sad situation... therefore examining how much of a stupid prat I am,' but he grinned all the same. 'All right mate?' he asked George, clapping him on the shoulder.

'Yeah, I s'pose,' replied George, wincing slightly. 'Could do with a few more visitors though.'

'Enough with the guilt tripping already, I've been at the shop all bloody weekend.' At the sound of this, Mrs Weasley pursed her lips. She was glad that her sons had decided not to enter into the Ministry but that didn't stop her disapproving of the joke-shop.

'Well,' she sniffed, 'if you don't need anything, I think I'll go and get a cup of tea. Floo powder does make me extremely parched.' And with that, she bustled out of the ward, muttering under her breath.

'So, what's been happening at the shop then?' George asked as Fred sighed and sat down in a large armchair by the bed as though he'd had a very trying day.

'Well, you know that new bloke? Stan Shunpike?'

'Yeah,' said George slowly, feeling that whatever was about to come next wasn't going to be good.

'Well,' Fred said, 'there's good news and bad news.'

'Get the bad out the way first,' George replied, grimacing slightly.

'Well, he accidentally destroyed the wall separating us from that Pet Pals shop next door.'

'HE WHAT?!' At the sound of George's shout, an elderly healer came up to his bed and told them not to disturb the other patients, one of whom had just had her ears fixed back on and was very susceptible to loud noises. As he bustled away, red nodded grimly.

'Dunno how he managed it, you'd need a pretty large cowdozer to pull off something like that. Really complicated spell that one.'

'Bulldozer,' murmured George distractedly. 'Okay, cheer me up. What's the good news?'

'Oh yeah, well we've got a new product. Should be able to be released pretty soon.'

'That's good,' grinned George. 'What is it?'

'They,' said Fred.

'They?'

'Yeah. _They_ are multi-coloured flashing puffskeins.'

'Oh no,' said George.

'Oh yes. It was quite a spectacle after that wall got disapparated or whatever happened to it. But basically the speciality inks fell into the pet shop and the owner told me he didn't want to sell multicoloured animals. So that's how it happened.'

'Oh,' said George. He couldn't really think of anything else to say.

'Yeah, we were going to ask for the invisible salamanders too, but we couldn't find them.'

George laughed. 'So what's been happening at home then? Anything as interesting as that?' he asked. Fred took a deep breath, and tried to pull a serious face (but failing spectacularly).

'Well, Pigwidgeon died.'

'What? How?'

'Well, it was quite amusing really,' said Fred, now grinning widely. 'Well, for me anyway.'

'Did it involve Crookshanks?' asked Geogre, remembering the whole Scabbers incident.

'Funnily enough, no,' said Fred. 'It was actually mainly to do with the new fake wand prototype, a quaffle and Ron's foot.'

'Nice,' George grimaced.

'He didn't feel anything, I promise you. But it definitely it wasn't funny at the time... for Ron anyway. He's not spoken to any of us for almost two days now. Well, apart from Hermione.'

'Hermione?' George asked, a little too quickly.

'Yeah, he's been confiding in her quite a lot recently. I think he's still a bit miffed that Harry's spending more time with Ginny.' Fred's face turned quite stony at this point. They didn't really mind about Harry and Ginny being together but they had taken him to one side at the beginning of the holiday and warned that if he did anything to hurt, maim, injure or otherwise cause pain to their little sister, he would answer to them, a large mallet and a super-size bag of highly concentrated Acid Pops.

'Hmm...' said George. He was still musing about the fact that Hermione was spending most of her time with Ron. To be quite honest with himself, he was really a bit pissed off about this. What was it that was making him feel like this? Hermione had visited him the day before yesterday and stayed for almost the whole day. Why should he begrudge his little brother the chance to bemoan the fate of his stupid owl?

'...so basically mum tried to ground me, and I mean, come on, she can't do that to me any more so I told her. So then she..'

George wasn't really listening to his brother, grateful though he was for some company.

'...and then I won the muggle Lottery.'

'Really?' George said vaguely.

'Of course it bloody well didn't. Hello? Earth to George! You're not listening to me.'

'Yes I am.'

'Look, you should just tell her.'

'Tell who? Tell what?'

'Hermione.'

'Tell her what?'

'You know what I mean.'

Nope.'

'Well that makes you ugly _and _stupid.'

'Shut up.'

'No. I know you like her George, so stop being an arse and admit it.'

'She's just a friend.'

'Bullshit.'

'Why?'

'Because I saw your face when I told you she'd been spending time with Ron and it was no pretty picture, I can tell you. Actually looked quite similar to the face you're pulling now.' George scowled even more.

'So?'

'So my dear little lovesick llama, I lied. She hasn't en spending any time with Ron at all.' Fred grinned at the furious face his twin was currently displaying.

'I swear by Merlin, Fred, if I had the use of my arm-'

'You'd make mincemeat out of my face. I know, I know. But you can't, so there.' George scowled again, knowing full well he couldn't cause pain to his infuriating brother. 'So get over yourself, George, 'cause she likes you too and it's now getting painful to watch.'

'She-?'

'Likes you too, yeah. Can't see the attraction myself, but, you know, whatever floats her boat.' George looked at his brother, not knowing whether to hit him or hug him (of course, without the use of many parts of his body he was thinking metaphorically).

'And so,' Fred continued, 'on that happy note, I am going to join my darling mother for a spot of tea.' He put on an uncanny Molly-like voice and said, 'Floo-powder makes me quite parched.' George grinned and Fred turned to go. He was just about at the door when he turned and with a worried expression on his face called, 'Are you sure you'll be okay poppet? Would you like me to bring your teddy next time?' And with an evil grin, he left the ward with George beetroot red at all the faces on the ward turned to look at him with laughter all over their faces.

Six days later, George returned to the Burrow, fully cured, to a large party. Remembering the last time the house had held a party, George felt his face go slightly pink.

'Penny for your thoughts?' said a voice behind him. George turned to see Hermione standing right behind him, smiling.

'Hey,' said George grinning.

'Welcome home,' she said, and hugged him, planting a small kiss on his cheek. 'Feeling better?'

'Much,' he said.

'So, what were you thinking about that made you go that beautiful shade of magenta?'

'Oh, nothing. It's... nothing.'

'Okay,' she said, clearly not believing but letting it pass all the same.

'Where's Ron?' George asked, noting his little brother was absent from the party of his family.

'Sulking,' said Hermione, rolling her eyes. 'Where else?'

'Where else indeed? Still not got over Pig?'

'Nope,' said Hermione, now looking quite angry. 'In fact, the stupid git has now found it in his heart to blame Crookshanks for the incident, which means he's in a mood with me.'

'But Crookshanks wasn't anywhere near-'

'I know, I know. But any excuse to be-'

'In a mood,' George finished her sentence for her. Hermione nodded, smiling slightly. 'Well, looks like things are finally getting back to normal then. Ron's in a piss with you for no reason, I'm out of hospital, mum's...' he paused to listen for his mother's shrieking which rose out of the kitchen.

'AND IF YOU EVER, EVER-'

'Mum's shouting at Fred for...'

'...NEVER WANT TO STEP IN ONE OF THEM...'

'Putting a bog in the kitchen,' he finished, grinning evilly at Hermione.

'George, you didn't-'

'What? Oh come on, I haven't done anything for weeks. Do you have any idea how bored I've been?'

'Really?' said Hermione, slightly coolly.

'Not when you were there obviously, my darling entertainer.' Hermione smiled.

Yes, everything was getting back to normal, hopefully for the best. Which was a relief and...

CLUNK, THUD, CLUNK, THUD, SPLAT

'Ow!' yelled Ron as he landed at the bottom of te stairs in a very ungraceful heap. 'Who the bloody hell put that bloody step back in there again?!'

'Ronald Weasley! Watch your language!' came Mrs Weasley's voice from the kitchen. Hermione turned back to George, a grin spreading across her face now.

'What?' he said innocently. 'I didn't do-'

'I know,' she said sweetly. 'I did.'

**Only a couple more chapters to go! Keep R&R! Love y'all, r xxx**


	11. A series of interesting events

**Yay! Christmas Holidays!!! And you know what that means don't you? Yes, it means I can write as much as I want and not get my head bitten off for doing no work! So I'm planning to have this story finished by the end of the week- this is the penultimate chapter! Oooh, excitement! So I take this last opportunity to apologise for my sporadic entries and to beg your forgiveness. I also have some thankyous for my last entry so I shall get on with those coz I know you're _dying_ to have this next chapter! (oh, and if I'm sounding a little obnoxious today, I'm sorry. But I'm in a very weird mood- I slept in til 11am today so I've got quite a lot of pent up energy!)**

**R xxx**

**Thankyou to all of: coolo, ilovetom88 (nice name ;) !), Spastic Bookworm, LauranotLora (no I'm not southern! Im british!), Stella Blu, TheItalianBanjoist, Ririana, Hiscefit, Doodleflip as always, memommy27, psquare and lady Emily. Your reviews mean so much to me! **

* * *

In comparison to the last few weeks, the following days were very very normal. The weather had, yet again, decided it was going to practise for November so the whole of the Weasley family, Harry and Hermione were stuck in the house for the good part of a week.

There were of course, countless diversions to keep them all amused, now that Fred and George were back on the warpath that was their trickster ways.

Many games of exploding snap and wizard chess were played, but with their own little twists. The exploding snap pack was had been jinxed (three guesses who by) so that it only ever exploded if it was Ron's turn, something Ron failed to notice until his eyebrows were the colour of soot.

Similarly, the wizard chess set were a special prototype from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes which had a cheating set of black pieces which would 'acciedentally' knock down more pieces than they were meant to so, ultimately, black always won. And Ron, by pure 'coincidence', always ended up playing with the white pieces.

After several more incidences of kitchen utensils that seemed to have a magnetic attraction to Mr Weasley's head, it transpired that it was the remainder of a mild curse that the twins had placed on him about two months previously.

'Well, you can't say it wasn't a clever jinx,' moaned Fred defensively as his ear was twisted painfully by his mother.

'Yeah, come on mum, it –OW- was only a –OW- joke,' said George as his ear too, was caugt in an iron grip by Mrs Weasley.

'A joke?!' came Mrs Weasley's voice. 'Well excuse me if I forget to laugh,' and renewed moans of pain came from the twins. In the next room, Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione winced, simultaneously.

'I thought it was funny,' muttered Ginny.

'I HEARD THAT!' shouted Mrs Weasley, and Ginny flinched. 'HONESTLY! POSSESSIVE KITCHEN UTENSILS?! I AM SIMPLY ASTOUNDED BY THE LENGTH AND BREDTH OF YOUR-'

'Charm?' asked Fred.

'Wit?' offered George.

'Looks?' they both said together. Mrs Weasley let a snort of frustration and the next thing they heard was another set of stifled cries.

'YOU COULD HAVE DONE YOUR FATHER A SERIOUS INJURY! TEHN WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? I JUST-'

And so it continued. Ten minutes later, the twins trooped out of the kitchen with equally glum faces.

'Ow,' winced Fred as he gingerly touched his ear which was now flaming red. 'Throbbing like mad.'

'Tell me about it,' muttered George quietly as he rubbed his own. 'That woman is a menace.'

Hermione and Harry sniggered. Here were two men, both about six feet tall who were now dwarfed by their mother, of about five foot one.

'Oy,' said George indignantly. 'Just coz she's short doesn't mean she's not lethal. You see what se can do!' and he pointed to his ear angrily.

'And she's got really long fingernails,' muttered Fred. And he, Ron, Harry and Ginny headed upstairs, Fred still gesticulating angrily.

'So what did you actually do?' asked Hermione who was curled up on the sofa like a contented cat wit another contented cat, Crookshanks, at her feet.

'It was just a joke,' George said, his eyes doing 'that puppy dog thing' (Mrs Weasley liked to call it). Hermione smiled.

'I know it was just a joke, it only ever is with you lot. I was just wondering what this 'just a joke' actually was. I didn't manage to discern all the shouts you know.' George grinned at her.

'Were you listening to the whole thing?'

'More-or-less, yeah.'

'Okay. Well, basically, it's this pill thing. If you swallow it, all the food you eat becomes sort of jinxed.' Hermione raised an eyebrow.

'Sort of jinxed?'

'Yeah, well, anyway. It's basically that whatever utensil prepared the food suddenly becomes very protective of the food it prepared and, well, doesn't want you to eat it.'

'It doesn't want you to eat it?' Hermione said.

'What is this? National 'Let's-repeat-everything-George-says' day? Yes, the utensils don't want their food to be eaten.'

And this was just too much for Hermione. She collapsed into fits of hysterical laughter, tears running down her face.

'Their food?' she gasped. 'They don't want their food to be eaten? So they beat you up until you stop?' And she dissolved into laughter again. George didn't look too impressed at first, but soon her laughter became infectious and George soon saw the funny side.

'Okay, so maybe it was a it of a stupid thing to do,' he admitted, smiling.

'Oh no, I'm not saying it was stupid at all' said Hermione, gaining control of herself.

'You're not?'

'No. It was actually very clever. To manage a spell that works beyond the boundaries of the cursed object but to work on other objects too. Very clever…'

George rolled his eyes. That was the Hermione he remembered from 2 years ago.

'I'm only saying that it was perhaps the most… how do I say it without offending you? Original idea you ever had,' she smiled at him. 'Not offence meant of course,' she added.

'None taken,' he replied smoothly.

'But I'm guessing it was a prototype,' Hermione continued.

'How did you guess?' George replied innocently.

'Oh, just the small matter of the jinx lasting over six weeks.'

'How do you know that wasn't intentional?' he asked. Hermione raised an eyebrow. 'Oh, okay, so it went little wrong. But we've got it sorted now.'

'How do you know?' she asked sceptically. George suddenly looked a little uncomfortable.

'Well, we just… do. You know? Being so clever and all that-'

'Who've you tested on this time?' Hermione asked, seemingly knowing the answer already. George hung his head and tried not to grin.

'Oh, come on 'mione, you know he's an annoying git.'

'I thought it might be Ron.'

'But it'll all be fine though. We've changed it so it'll only last a day.'

'And how long was the one you used on your dad meant to last.'

'A day,' muttered George quietly. Hermione rolled her eyes again and slowly sat up, dislodging Crookshanks who trotted off, no doubt to go and chase some more garden gnomes.

'Don't let him get hurt,' said Hermione. It wasn't a question, it was a request. George looked into those velvetine brown eyes he'd been dreaming about for months. 'I'll try,' he said, 'but I can't promise anything.'

'That's good enough for me,' Hermione smiled. George smiled back. She was so beautiful, and she didn't even need to try. She wasn't wearing any makeup at all, but her smile made her face light up, her eyes sparkle. Before George knew it, he was moving closer to her… and she wasn't moving away. Their lips were almost touching and…

'LUCNH!' came Mrs Weasley's voice from the kitchen. Hermione and George jumped apart as the sound of thundering footsteps came from upstairs and the stairs as the rest of the family trooped into the living room.

'What's up with you two?' asked Ron as he skipped the trick step and landed, not all too gracefully, at the bottom of the stairs.

'Nothing,' they said together, a little too quickly. They looked at each other, blushed slightly and walked to the dining room for lunch. Fred followed after them, still grumbling about his ear which was still very pink, although whether this was from anger or from his mother's onslaught, you couldn't tell.

As they all took their places and as George and Hermione looked at each other the same word crossed their minds.

Damn.

* * *

As can be imagined, the rest of tat day was really quite awkward. On was, as always, quite oblivious to what he had walked in on. For the rest of the sodden day, Hermione stayed in Ginny's room where they chatted about nothing in particular. Ginny could sense something was up but didn't say anything. She knew how embarrassing questions like that could be.

'Only five days to go,' said Ginny absentmindedly, whilst darning one of her socks.

'Only five?' asked Hermione, counting the days off on her fingers. 'God, you're right. Time flies-'

'When you're having fun?' filled in Ginny. 'You can't exactly say that the whole holidays have been a bundle of laughs.'

'Yeah, but besides the attack-'

'Yeah, besides that,' Ginny laughed humourlessly.

'Our Hogwarts letters haven't arrived yet' asked Hermione, realising how little time they had to get all their new books and equipment.

'I'm sure they'll arrive soon,' said Ginny throwing down her darning needle. 'O, I can't be bothered to do this now. Want something to eat?'

Their letters, by pure coincidence, literally just arrived downstairs when they went to grab something to eat. While Ginny made a plate of sandwiches, Hermione took the letters to Harry and Ron's room to open them. They read the usual note about how term started on the first of September and the list of new books they would be required to buy.

But Hermione didn't' get that far. She was standing, rooted to the spot, holding a square, silver badge with the letters

HEAD

GIRL

printed neatly on it.

'Oh wow! Well done Hermione!' said Harry, looking over her shoulder. He hugged her hard, which partly revived Hermione from her stupor.

'I didn't... I thought… I don't…' but full sentences seemed beyond Hermione's capacity at this point in time. 'Did you…?' She didn't need to finish the sentence.

'No,' came Ron's sullen voice. 'We didn't.'

'Well, actually,' came Harry's voice very quietly, 'I got Quidditch captain.'

'Oh, great. Poor ickle Ronnie, the only one without any responsibility,' and Ron stormed out of the room without another word.

'Don't listen to him Harry,' Hermione said quietly, seeing the stricken look on Harry's face. 'Don't, really.' And she hugged him again, whispering 'Well done though.'

'Thanks,' he whispered. 'Think I'll go tell Ginny.'

'Yeah, do. She'll be really pleased.'

As Harry made for the door, he turned and said, 'Do you want to borrow Hedwig to tell your parents?' Hermione's face looked a little pained but she hitched a smile back on her face as she said

'That would be great.'

* * *

A slightly doleful party took place later. What with the awkwardness between Hermione and George, Mrs Weasley feeling a little put out that her son was the only one without a badge (happy though she was for the others- and with Harry being as good a son to her as anything). Ron was sullen for the whole evening, though he did try (in vain) to try and look happy for his best friends.

Both Harry and Hermione felt slightly dispirited, happy though they should have been. After a delicious supper, they all sat in front of the fire (that's how cold the weather was being), and chatted away. Ron took himself off to bed early complaining of a stomach ache. Nobody was fooled.

She couldn't sleep. She tried and tried but it just wouldn't come. Today had been a very confusing day. She kept on seeing his face, remembered the way she had purposely avoided his eyes. It had been weeks since that had last happened. And they'd been getting on so well…

Finally, Hermione rolled out of bed, making a decision to write a letter to her parents. She pulled out her wand, muttered 'Lumos', pulled out some parchment and her favourite black and gold quill and began to write. It was difficult for her, knowing this may well be the last note she ever sent to her parents before they split. Occasional tears dashed the ink, but she didn't much care.

Once she finished the letter, she sealed it up and went to go and find Hedwig. She thought she'd seen her downstairs earlier so she put on her slippers and slipped out into the dark house.

However, in the dark, it's a little difficult to see a trick step, much less avoid it…

'BANG, THUNK, BANG, THUNK'.

'Ow,' moaned Hermione trying to get up from her wholly undignified heap on the floor. Then a figure came running in from the kitchen.

'Holy crap Hermione,' and she felt strong arms wrap around her and lift her easily off the floor. She gave a small cry of pain as her arm was moved but she couldn't muster much else. 'Ever get that feeling of déjà vu?' came the voice again as she was gently laid down on the sofa.

'George?' she whispered.

'The very same,' he said, but sounding slightly worried. 'What on earth were you trying to do? Have you got some sort of death wish?'

'I was trying to find Hedwig actually,' she winced. There was a slight rustling and then George's face was illuminated by silver-white flames that he was holding in his hands. 'What about you?'

'I was getting a glass of water actually, seeing as the ghoul in he attic has seen fit to break the tap in out bedroom.' Carefully, he took the glass he hadn't filled and tipped the flames into it leaving his hands free. 'Okay, what have you roken this time?'

'Wrist, I think,' she whispered, flinching slightly as he caressed it gently.

'No problem,' said George and, whipping out his wand, fixed it almost instantly.

'Thanks,' murmured Hermione, relaxing into the sofa from the release of the pain.'

'No problem,' replied George, suddenly struck by how vulnerable she looked, how fragile. 'Are you okay?'

'Yes, why?'

'Nothing, it just looks like, like you've been… crying.'

'Oh, no, I'm fine really.'

'Promise?'

'Promise.'

'Good. Well, I never got to congratulate you anyway.'

'Oh,' Hermione blushed slightly. 'Thanks.'

'Yeah, well, normally I'd be disgusted and deny I ever had any contact with you at all… ever. But Head Girl seems to fit you somehow.'

'Oh?'

'Well, for a start, you have the same initials,' he grinned. Hermione looked pensively at him for a minute and then she realised what he meant.

'We do as well. How weird is that?'

'Well, not really, considering how obvious it was that you could have been head girl from your first day at Hogwarts.'

'I could?'

George now put on a high pitched voice and said 'Excuse me, but has anyone seen a toad. A boy named Neville has lost one… oh you haven't, well never mind. By the way, I've been informed by the driver hat we'll be arriving within ten minutes so I'd advise you to get changed soon.' He grinned evilly at her as she looked horror struck.

'I did not say that?'

'Oh yes you did. It was quite frightening at the time actually. You were probably the only student younger than me who I was genuinely terrified of.' Hermione snorted. 'It's true. You knew more spells than me and everything. Really scary.' He looked down on that girl; that bushy haired, slightly buck-toothed precocious eleven year old that had blossomed into this- A beautiful, albeit slightly accident-prone, young woman.

Hermione looked at George and knew this would be her only chance.

'Kiss me,' she whispered.

'What?' he whispered back, not daring to hope he had heard right.

'I, well… it's okay if… I mean if you-' But she was cut off mid-sentence by the action that was to make her entire summer the best she would have for a long time.

* * *

**Teehee! R&R lol r xxx**


	12. The beginning and at the same time the e...

**Wow! Last chapter! And I know I'm evil for taking so long to update when I said I wouldn't, but what can I say? Sorry?!?!?!?!?!? Well, I hope you enjoy- final reviews would be much appreciated and ideas for a new fic would be great. I might try and continue this one… not sure. We'll just see what happens. I'm also going to remove my other fic and rewrite it coz im not so happy with it- but I will put it back up soon. So much love to you all- thank you so so so so so much for you're fantabulous reviews, they're really inspiring! **

**So thank you to: HermyGWeasley (lovely first reviewer!), Doodleflip (great advice, great reviewer! ALSO WRITES GOOD FICS- READ THEM!!!), padfoot-lover1 (whos name I should have chosen! I promise the end isn't much of a cliffie!), kiss-of-cuteness, brokentoy19, theitalianbanjoist (I would continue the story but would be a tad difficult seeing as george is no longer at school- however I hope this chapter is still to your liking), Lady Emily, Kauro4, silver gaze, stella blu, joaniem, coolo, ilovetom88, spastic bookworm, lauranotlora, ririana, hiscefit, memommy27, psquare, starzcrossed, v, midgee Dumbledore, Martha warren, padfootedmoony, crazygirl47, loverofsugar, crazyvoices22, eratosthenese, the dark one reborn, amanda7879, pixieballerina (with the highly cool name!), Kandie-spirit-dragon, black-rose23, xxRebelxAngelxx, the sheep moos, mioneandmalfoy, stupidia, amour-lily, Grizabella and niwrem (you have no idea how shocked I was to go to my e-mil and find NINE new messages- I thought it might have been my brother being a plonker but I'm thrilled it wasn't!). **

**Wow so many reviewers! Well, here is me, signing off- over and out!**

**Lol r xxx**

Tentatively, gentle at first. Hermione savoured the moment his lips met hers. She would have expected (she thought a little cruelly) that it would be just like kissing Fred. But somehow it wasn't at all.

She was still lying on the sofa with George bending over her, but both were happy with the arrangement. There was some kind of glory in both of them- the glory of being needed, something words couldn't explain. She opened her mouth a little and flicked her tongue temptingly. He delved in, kissing her with all of the pent up emotion he had had for the entire summer.

Neither of them knew how long they stayed there, but eventually they were disturbed by the sound of muffled footsteps on the stairs. They broke apart reluctantly to find Fred, leaning against the wall at the foot of the stairs, grinning slyly.

'About bloody time too,' he said, and wandered of to the kitchen, clearly to get himself a midnight snack. Hermione and George looked back at each other and grinned.

'Well…' said George.

'George?' asked Hermione.

'Hmm?'

'Shut up,' and she pulled him down on top of her and invited him to kiss her once more.

* * *

'Umm, Hermione?' 

'Go 'way.'

'No, seriously Hermione.'

'What?'

'You might want to consider getting up.'

'Why?'

'Open your eyes.'

Opening her eyes slowly, taking a while to focus in the weak morning light, Hermione blinked and looked up. Harry's face was suspended, upside down above hers and he was looking quite embarrassed.

'What?' she asked again, still not quite at ease with her surroundings.

'Umm…' said Harry, gesturing vaguely at her and then around at the room and then at his watch. Hermione looked around and realised he was still on the sofa from last night. George had somehow managed to get to lying on the sofa next to her, which was a bit of a squash, and (not intentionally I'm sure- this story is writing itself by the way) had his hand halfway up her top. Not to an area of indecency but enough to make Harry's face turn as red as Ron's hair.

'Oh,' she said, comprehension dawning. She sat up slowly, trying not to wake George. Then she said, horror struck, 'No-one else saw did they?'

'Not that I'm aware of…' Harry replied, still looking slightly uncomfortable. 'Well, I'm… going to… yeah,' and he wandered of upstairs, the red very gradually receding from his face. Hermione giggled. The only times she'd ever seen Harry that uncomfortable was right after he'd kissed Cho Chang and when he'd worked up the nerve to ask Ginny out and she'd said (actually, more screamed) 'yes' and threw herself on him.

Her laugh caused George to stir. His eyes flickered open and rested on her. 'Morning,' he smiled.

'Hi,' Hermione replied and she bent down to kiss him, the novelty of the situation not having worn off.

'You look so beautiful this morning,' he said quietly, and Hermione blushed.

'Thank you. I'd say likewise but that might be a bit freaky and I'd be insulting Fred as well as you,' she smiled. George, however, looked a little uncomfortable and Hermione could guess what was going through his mind. She lent down to place a small kiss on his lips and whispered, 'You might look like him, but you're not him.'

George smiled at that, and they were both drowned in each other kisses again until the arrival of the post prompted them to stop.

* * *

'I can't believe we only had five days,' Hermione said quietly as she attempted to lift her trunk into the car. This one was magically expanded but, for good reason, didn't fly. 

'I know,' George replied, relieving her of the large box and lifting it with ease into the boot. 'But at least we had those days, right?'

'Oh, quit with the mushy shmushy,' said Fred who had overheard their conversation as he threw Ginny's trunk in after Hermione's.

'Careful Fred!' came Mrs Weasley's voice from the kitchen. Ginny won't thank you if you break all her keepsakes!'

'Keepsakes?' said Fred, incredulously. 'Whoevensays that anymore?' Hermione rolled her eyes- same old Fred.

* * *

The journey to King's Cross was mildly uneventful apart from 3 doubling backs- one for Ginny's school shoes, one for Ron's quill and one for Crookshanks. At one point, Ron got attacked by the chocolate frog wrapper he had just opened by, considering its size, its attempt to smother him was rather pitiful. George and Fred smirked at each other, with Hermione torn between amusement and worry over how long the charm would work. 

They arrived in good time at the station and, to their enormous surprise, found Bill, Fleur and baby Hermione all waiting for them between the barriers for Platform's 9 and 10.

'Heya,' Bill grinned as Ginny rushed to hug him and Hermione (the elder) went to look at the baby. 'Thought we'd come and see you off, seeing as we were in the area anyway. Well done on Head Girl by the way,' he added, hugging Hermione.

'Thanks.'

'Come on then, let's go through,' said Mrs Weasley, anxiously hecking her watch, even though they had twenty minutes to go. They all passed through the barrier one by one until they were all on platform 9 ¾.

'Now, have you all got everything?' asked Mr Weasley, even though it was a little late to be asking that question now. 'Books, wands..?' Everyone nodded.

'Badge, 'mione,' said Harry.

'Oh yeah,' she said, fishing it out of her pocket and trying to fix it to her junper.

'Allow me,' said George, taking it from her and taking rather too long affixing it to her chest. He grinned at her, he grinned back, Bill grinned at Harry, who grinned at Fred who grinned at Ron who just scowled. Bill rolled his eyes but then turned to Hermione and whispered in her ear, 'And about time too.'

'Just what Fred said,' she smiled.

'Oh for the love of Merlin,' came a snide voice from somewhere form the right, interrupting the moment. They all spun around as Draco Malfoy came swaggering through a sea of second years. 'A mud-blood? Head Girl? Well, I wouldn't have expected any less of that muggle-loving excuse for a headmaster. Mind you, maybe she's striving to be like your mother Potter. She managed to worm her way into the top spot, heaven knows how,' he smirked before he was jumped upon by Harry, Ron, Ginny, Bill and Fred. George would have done likewise had Mrs Weasley and Hermione not been standing next to him and both grabbing hold of his jacket. Once Mr Weasley had managed to prise all five off the whimpering, blonde-haired boy, Malfoy got up and limped away, trying to stem the flow of blood currently pouring from his nose. Unbeknownst to him, a beautifully curled pig's tail was protruding from the back of his trousers.

'Couldn't resist,' grinned Harry as all they Weasley children burst into laughter. Hermione didn't join them, however.

'Ugh, Malfoy,' grimaced Hermione. 'This is not going to be fun.'

'Hey, don't worry about it,' said George, turning to her.

'It's going to be shite,' she moaned, resting her head against his chest.

George stroked her hair soothingly, still marvelling at how fantastic it felt to be able to do that without question. 'Nah, you're ten times cleverer than him, just hex him if he gets on your nerves.' Hermione nodded, eyes slightly wet. 'Hey, hey, it'll be fine. You've got Harry and Ron to look out for you. And if he's still a pile of crap, just owl me and I'll come up personally and feed him to the giant squid, okay?' Hermione smiled, nodding. George stroked her jaw and tilted her face up to meet his.

'Okay,' she whispered and he placed a tender kiss on her lips, making her shiver slightly. When he finally broke away she said, 'What am I going to do without you for a whole term?'

'Who says it'll be a whole term?' he said. Hermione looked at him questioningly.

'What do you mean?' she asked.

'Well, I could come up on Hogsmeade weekends if you liked,' he offered.

'Really? You'd come up all that way?'

'You're worth it.' Hermione beamed and pulled him down for another kiss. She simply couldn't believe that they had only had five days as an official 'couple'. What had thy spent the whole summer doing? But as she melted into him, only dimly aware that they were still in the presence of his entire family plus Harry, he pulled away. She looked up at him morosely.

'Train's going to leave,' he said quietly. Hermione looked round and saw everyone heading towards the train, hugging their parents goodbye or, in the case of Luna Lovegood, levitating their trunk through a crowd people so they had to leap out of the way to avoid being concussed by the flying object.

'Goodbye dears,' said Mrs Weasley, going round her children, Hermione and Harry and hugging them all. 'Have a good term. Behave yourselves.' Harry grinned at Hermione who grinned back. Harry and Ron didn't have any prefect duties, and they were going to make full use of the fact. Fred and George had even given them some prototypes to test on people they didn't like (cough Slytherins cough Zacharias Smith) and had given Harry a Skiving Snackbox for his birthday.

Hermione hugged Bill and Fred goodbye and then turned back to George. He put his strong arms around her so she was pressed up against him, feeling safe and warm in his embrace. A loud BANG and then a yelp of pain made them jump apart as they looked to see the source of the commotion. It turned out Malfoy had accidentally shut his tail in the compartment door. Hermione winced and then giggled.

'That's gotta hurt,' muttered George, trying not to smile and failing, resulting in an expression Hermione loved. She grinned.

'Give him hell from us,' came two voices from behind her. Bill and Fred were grinning at Malfoy who was now trying to extricate himself from the door, without much success.

'Do you reckon if I put a permanent sticking charm on the door he'd have to stay there for the whole journey to Hogwarts..?' mused Bill with a half pensive, half cheeky smile on his face.

'Serve him right, stupid git,' muttered Fred who had a purplish bruise developing on his chin, no doubt from the attack on Malfoy.

'I wouldn't try anything while your mum's around,' said Hermione to Bill who turned to look at Mrs Weasley, then shuddered.

'Could be messy,' he agreed. 'But remember what we said,' he added.

'I'll see what I can do,' said Hermione, smiling.

She turned to leave but George caught her hand. 'Give him hell from me too,' he smiled.

'You bet I will,' she said, a slightly evil look in her eye. She kissed him one last lingering time, and stepped onto the train.

**Mini-epilogue**

**Now, I don't usually like to do this coz I think sometimes people's imaginations are better than writing but here's what I think should happen:**

**Hermione and george stay together (get married, have some very pretty children etc, I was going to write that but it can be so overdone, I thought id better not risk it)**

**Ron, moody git that he is, falls in love with Luna (odd pairing, but I think it fits)**

**Harry and Ginny stay together (coz they're so cute) married, babies, etc.**

**Fred and Angelina don't stay together long coz Fred's a player and can't stay long in one relationship until he finds someone completely unrelated to any of the stories and settles down happily ever after**

**And that, my dear dear friends, is the end of this little adventure. I hope you enjoyed it as much I enjoyed writing it and then re-reading it for typos!**

**Lol r xxx**


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